Decadence
by EscapingGreatly
Summary: It’s not easy being a foster child. Lost, withdrawn and fighting with her past, Bella Swan moves to the same foster house as Edward Cullen. Can the boy whose story sounds so similar to hers help her when it all takes a turn for the worse? AH. EB.
1. Preface

**A/N** I'll be updating once a week. I'm studying right now. That's a priority for me so more than once a week updates would be hard. But I've pre-written a few chapters so updates should be every Wednesday evening (UK time).

Thanks to Lena for beta-ing.

* * *

**PREFACE**

**BPOV**

"Edward?" I spoke up, my voice a whisper in the bedroom. I was scared of what was happening around us. So quickly everything was starting to go wrong, our lives were starting to spiral out of control and there was no way – any logical, sane way in which we could get them back again. It was us against our world and we both knew that if we carried on the way we were – neither of us stood a chance. We were born to be sucked in and ruined. It was what was meant for us.

"Yes?" He opened one eye, squinting at me as he turned his head to my direction.

I didn't know what to say. What _could_ I say?

Edward stood up from his bed and walked the few steps to mine, lying down besides me and pulling my head onto his chest. We were both on our sides facing each other, my left arm slung around his waist whilst his right arm cradled my head against his chest. Our legs automatically tangled, his jeans rubbing against my bare calf. We lay there in our silence. I listened to his breaths and the steady beat of his heart and thanked God I could still hear it.

_They could have so easily missed. It could have been a stray that ruined him. _

As soon as my line of thinking started to flashback to that night I forced myself to concentrate on my surroundings. I did not need to revisit it. I smelt Edward's cologne, breathing in deeply his scent mixed with it. I felt his fingertips lightly skim across the hairs on my head.

"Bella?"

I broke away looking up at him. "Yes?" I stared shocked as I saw the determination in his eyes. It had been a while since I had seen it. Lately, the look in his eyes had taken one of defeat.

"We've got to leave now Bella – we're running out of time." He stood up from the bed abruptly walking over to his own and bending down.

"Bella." My head snapped up at the sound of my name and Edward stood up placing two duffel bags on his bed. "Get one of your large handbags that you carry around to add to this. I'm leaving for two hours – I've got somewhere to go." His vagueness didn't pass me and I fought the urge to question where he had to go. Ever since that day two weeks ago I had had this sudden desire to know exactly where he was, exactly what he was doing. But this time I knew he would never tell me no matter how much I begged.

"I'll bring a car to the house and we'll transfer the bags into there." My heart thudded uncontrollably and I fought to stay in control as I listened to the instructions come out of his mouth and not break. We were leaving. Getting out of the fucking hell hole we had found ourselves thrust in. I had to focus – do my part and get everything ready.

"I'll ring you when I come back so you can come down with the bags. Check though to make sure no one returned home. Lock our door behind you and turn off the light – make it look like we've gone to sleep."

I nodded my head as I stood up. All my life I had been fucked around with and now it was my chance to stand up and finally…_take control_. Finally not live in fear and do something about it.

"Make sure it doesn't look like we've left. Don't pack too much. Just things that won't be missed. Hopefully they won't notice till we're out of the state." Edward stopped pacing the room staring at me. His eyes softened as he strode towards me grabbing my face in his hands.

"I'm gonna get us through this Bella. Trust me I will." Warmth filled me and my eyes filled with tears embarrassingly. He tilted his head to the right and moved his lips over mine.

And for once, I trusted him completely.

* * *

Review?


	2. Settlement: I'm Walking Away

**Disclaimer: **Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

**A/N **Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed last chapter.

I just need to explain a few things – this story is going to be split into 2 parts. The first part which is now is called Settlement. Each part has 3 different sub divisions. Chapter lengths will vary.

Please pay attention to the dates. There'll be a change around with the chronological order (because I love writing stories like this) so it's important to notice the dates.

Thanks to Lena for beta-ing!

* * *

**Settlement: Part 1: A Chance To Befriend**

**Chapter 1: I'm Walking Away**

_**7**__**th**__** October 2006**_

**BPOV**

Grey. Everything was grey down here in this part of town. It was the first thing I had noticed when I had stepped out of that fucking car and into this hell hole I was going to live in for a good part of the next few years. I glared at Leah, my social worker, as I heard the shouting coming from the house. In their defence, the windows were open a crack, but still – they had to be yelling their heads of pretty damn loud for me to hear them from out here. I walked along the broken pathway towards the grey door that unfortunately would soon become familiar to me. There was a small patch of grass next to the broken slabs forming the steps and weeds poked out between dying plants. These people were obviously not gardeners. But as I looked around the neighbourhood, I noted that obviously no one here had ever been in any type of gardening mood. Shame, really. Flowers are pretty little things and weeds are pretty cool looking sometimes, once you get over the fact that they're trying to ruin your garden.

With every step Leah and I took towards the house, the shouting increased and she shrugged apologetically at me, helping me lift my suitcase over the jagged concrete, before lifting my other suitcase she was carrying.

"I'm sorry, Bells – you wanted out of your last family and this is all they had." I snorted at her reply, looking around the street with windows broken and boarded up with cardboard, dented cars and peering busybodies. As if her being sorry would make this any better.

"You couldn't get me in with a rich family living in a mansion?" I asked sarcastically knowing that no rich person ever took in a foster child. Only people who needed something to earn bothered with the likes of me. And who could really blame them? They earned a whooping $415 a month – and that was per child. Not that they would ever get the idea of spending it on the child they had to care for, mind you. And these sorts of people normally had about five children in their houses, so that made for a lot of extra cash.

"It was either them or an overcrowded house with toddlers. I figured you'd fare better in a house with teenagers." Leah smiled down at me, as she pressed an immaculate finger to the doorbell. I sighed – she really didn't know me well. I'd rather be with toddlers than overbearing teenage boys and bitchy girls. I'd had enough of them. Listening to the boys brag about who had given them head lately and the girls squeal over a new celebrity really just wasn't my cup of tea. I always was the weird one out in those cases – the one who would rather sit in a corner reading a book and listen to rock music. The kids at my last home had called me 'the emo who should cut her wrists and die'.

The shrill noise of the bell rang through the house, startling me from my thoughts, and immediately silence erupted and a hissed sound could be made out. The door opened and a couple stood there, fake smiles painted onto their faces, the woman's arm wrapped lovingly around her husband's waist, whilst he held onto her shoulders.

"Oh, you must be Isabella." I didn't know whether to ignore the over-sugared, honey-sweet tone that nearly made me puke or to just roll my eyes at her, showing her exactly how far she could get with that when she was dealing with me.

"Bella" I corrected sullen. I knew it would be a few more times of corrections before they finally learned that I just wanted to be called Bella. The woman's smile faltered just a bit at my insolent tone, before she plastered on the bright grin – she should have been used to it after all. She would have had to deal with foster children even worse than me.

"Of course - Bella. I'm Mrs. Newton. This is my husband, Mr. Newton. But you may call us Mike and Grace. The rest of the kids are inside – why don't you both come in." Gosh, not even five minutes with this pair and I was already sure that they were fake. I threw Leah an exaggerated cheery look, to which she responded with a pleading one herself. I sighed inwardly. It wasn't her fault that the families wanting to take in foster children were thoroughgoing lousy and that I was never satisfied with the family I was going to live with for a few years. So I pulled myself together and followed her in, after the Newtons had stepped aside.

I turned behind me to close the door and blinked, as my eyes adjusted to the gaudy interior of the hallway. A table sat next to the doorway, a vase filled with fake flowers resting on top. It wasn't much, but more than what I was used to. I followed Leah down the hallway, peering in the doors as I noticed the small kitchen and a tiny toilet with the seat up. I hated that. It had been like an unwritten rule in my old foster home to leave the seat up all the time and the last time the seat had been up, I had been half asleep and had fallen inside.

Leah walked into a doorway at the end of the hallway and I followed behind her, as I saw the rest of the kids lined up in height order. A blonde boy who looked disgustingly like the couple stood at the top. His arm was wrapped around a girl's waist, his hand on her ass and her body tucked into his. The girl had uncontrollable blonde curls and her face coiled up in a sneer, as she viewed me. Next to her was another boy – slightly burlier than the blonde. He was African-American and his hand was tucked into the pocket of a skirt so short on another blonde girl it looked like she was wearing a belt only. Her face was plastered in make-up, her features a delightful orange and an interesting line formed between her neck and her face, indicating she didn't know how to apply her foundation. Next to her was a scrawny young boy – no older than eleven, with greasy hair and beginnings of acne evident. I liked him best so far, even if he looked down embarrassed. Or maybe exactly for that reason.

"This young man here is our son, Mike Junior. He's seventeen and is with Jessica here, who is also seventeen." Mike Senior spoke, as he stood behind Mike Junior and placed his hands proudly on his son's shoulders. I snorted as quietly as I could. He might as well have said: 'My son here is fucking this whore here.' Not that it would have made a difference, as I was already sure I had no interested in Mike Junior whatsoever.

"Next we have Tyler who is sixteen and Lauren who is also sixteen. And then there's Eric who's ten." He pointed each person out and then turned to me, clearly expecting me to make an introduction, even though each one of them already knew my name, age and my personal history that was on the file the foster parents were allowed to view. I didn't do him the favour to even open my mouth. An uncomfortable silence stretched the next few seconds.

"We've got one more lad – same age as you, Bella. Edward's his name. He's out now, though. God only knows where…" Grace started talking, but as she noticed the curious look from Leah, she back peddled. "…Well – he's probably at his friend's place or at one of the shops. He goes there a lot." Grace laughed nervously, trying to convince Leah that she knew exactly where this Edward person was and that she wasn't a bad foster mother. No such luck, as Leah continued to frown and gave me a look, assessing if she could leave me here without having a bad conscience.

"Well, Bella, why don't you introduce yourself?" Grace continued and I rolled my eyes – she had just done it for me. But seeing as Leah was standing right beside me and I didn't want to give her more trouble than I had done anyways, I decided that maybe giving in this time wouldn't be that bad of an idea.

"Well, as Grace here told you – I'm Bella." As I saw the frowning faces of my new 'foster parents', I decided to be kind and elaborate. "I'm sixteen." The answering smile from Grace made me wish I hadn't done her the favour. God only knew how much she deserved an inspection by the youth welfare office. Obviously Leah was of the same opinion, but wasn't too keen on having to search for new foster homes for a bunch of kids.

"Well, I better be going – I've got a few more kids in the area to see too. I'll be checking up sometime next week.", she spoke up, as she readjusted her bag on her shoulder, gave my arm a brief squeeze, a quick smile to the Newtons, and then walked briskly out of the door.

_Oh, thank you, Leah, for__ leaving me on my own_.

I stood uncomfortably, a duffel bag on my shoulder and a small suitcase in each hand, as I waited to be directed to my room.

"Well, honey – you will be rooming with Lauren over here. I'll just show you to your room…" I inwardly groaned, as I realised I was sharing a room with whore-aspirer-number-one herself. Great, just what I needed. Not.

Whore aspirer number two was obviously Jessica who was still draped over Mike Junior, even though his dad was standing right behind them. Well, it wasn't going to be Mike having to struggle with a baby, should they not be careful.

I followed Grace down the hallway and up some stairs, struggling with my suitcases. She led me into a room at the far end of the hall and directed me to the single bed besides the window. The other bed was unusually close to it – nothing was in-between to separate them, except a small line of space which you could barely walk in.

"Well, I'll let you get settled now, darling…just give me a shout when you need me." Grace smiled sweetly, as she sauntered out of the room. I sat on my new bed, staring around the room. It was similar to others I had been in. Two wardrobes – mine was plain, whilst Lauren had pictures and magazine covers covering hers. Two small desks and a thin ceiling-to-floor mirror. I sighed, knowing I'd never look in to it, when I needed to get ready. I'd just have to rely on the odd looks from people to know whether or not I had dressed properly.

The door suddenly burst in and Lauren walked in, Tyler in tow. "Ok, so this is how it's going to work. You are going to get out of this room. You do it and we give you no hassle – capiche?" Lauren spoke, trying to put on an Italian accent towards the end and failing miserably.

"What?" Where the hell was I meant to go if they wanted to kick me out of here?

"Tyler stays with me – you can stay in his room with Edward." Lauren stated, already giving one of my suitcases to Tyler. Realisation dawned on me – that was why the beds were so close together. But then fear gripped me, as I understood what she said.

"Edward?" A boy. I hated living with boys – sharing a room with them was even worse. You never knew what they were going to do to you in your sleep. In one family I had stayed with, I had once had to sleep in a room with a boy my age, when my roommate had a friend over for a sleepover and they needed my bed. I had fallen asleep, when suddenly I had woken up, startled to see someone leaning over my bed. I had shot up furious and he had quickly moved away. Needless to say I never slept again that night.

There was a reason girls and boys weren't allowed to room together – obviously that didn't apply in this house. I doubted the parents knew – they wouldn't risk being found out and having their pay checks taken away from them.

Lauren seemed to detect my apprehensive look and understanding dawned on her face. As a child in the foster care system she would have been all too aware. For those few seconds she nearly looked compassionate.

"Look – don't worry about Edward. He's fine. Keeps to himself mostly. Not aggressive or anything at all like that….you've got nothing to worry about. Trust me. Unless you want to meet him yourself, before you decide to live with him?" Her voice was softer and Tyler looked at her like she was out of her head for not throwing me out immediately. She simply glared at Tyler. I could see Tyler turn his annoyed stare to me and knew immediately that I didn't want him as my enemy. I stood up, trying to keep my legs from trembling, as I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I would be able to handle it. I knew how to fight. I could kick ass. I would be fine.

"No, no, that's fine. I believe you. I'll – um, move, I guess." I awkwardly grabbed a hold of my suitcase, before Lauren stopped me, telling me that Tyler would be happy to carry them for me. I started to protest, saying that I could carry them myself at the exact same moment he started to say that I had two hands to move my luggage, but one glare from her and he vanished, both my suitcases in tow.

"Look – I understand your apprehension about living with a male you don't know – trust me." She sounded bitter, but soon composed herself. "But I promise you that Edward's fine. If I was sending you to stay with Mike, that would be a different story – well, I wouldn't send you, full stop. But-"

"It's ok. I'll take your word for it, Lauren." She smiled hesitantly at me and then walked out of the room, indicating I should follow her. We walked along the hallway and came to a room close to the stairs. The door was open and Tyler walked out, as we walked in.

"I've never actually been in here, since he moved in" Lauren said, looking around the room. I looked around as well. Nothing there said anything about his personality – except maybe for the impressive iPod speakers sitting on a clean desk. "Edward loves his music, by the way." Lauren said, nodding to the speakers. I cocked my head to show her I'd acknowledged what she's said and then I took in the rest of the room – it was exactly like Lauren's, except there were no posters of half naked male celebrities to cover the walls, the beds were farther apart, each pushed up against the opposite wall, and it was cleaner.

"Well, I better go and let you get settled – I'm assuming that's Edward's bed and wardrobe." Lauren pointed at the fabric that could be seen peeking out from underneath a pillow on the bed closest to the wall on the other side of the door, before pointing to the slightly open door on the wardrobe besides his bed. Next to that wardrobe was another one, which was going to become acquainted with my clothes.

Lauren walked out and I settled down onto another bed again, closing my eyes briefly, as I took in the stressful day. Meeting your new foster parents was never easy.

* * *

**EPOV**

My head snapped up, as I heard the shouting and shrieks of laughter coming from around the corner.

_Fucking hell._

I quickly jumped off of the wall, pulling the hood of my hoodie over my head and digging my hands into my pockets. Glancing up, I saw the blonde haired James and his friend Laurent in the middle of a group, clearly dominating whatever situation was going on. An elderly lady quickly crossed over as she caught sight of them, clutching her bag tighter to herself. A young mother pushing a pram looked at them quickly, before following the old lady.

I narrowed my eyes at them, as I saw a red headed girl drape herself over James like the whore she was, pushing her hand down his jeans. The group of six all had beer cans in their hands and - as they hooted obnoxiously - I decided to quit watching, in case one of them noticed me and decided to start something with me. I was sixteen and I was strong for my age, but there was no way I would stand a chance against the group of nineteen-year-olds. No fucking way. Especially as they were involved in a gang – over the last couple of years James had started to make a name for himself. There were rumours around the neighbourhood that it would only be a few more years before James started to control the underworld.

Walking through the streets, I sighed, as I turned into my street. A new girl was due to arrive at our house soon. I was already running late and I knew the Newtons would give me shit for not being there to greet her and make a good impression on the social worker. The first few weeks a new kid came to live with us, we were required to be on our best behaviour. Then, when the social service visits grew less and less, the Newtons would stop giving a fuck, choosing to divulge themselves in whatever illegal scam they were running. The house would be a tip except for my room, in which I cleaned myself and life would drag on.

It was a vicious cycle.

Despite the fact that I knew I'd have the foster parents ragging on my ass for not being home, I really couldn't give a damn. Their pathetic attempt of trying to impress the social workers were tiring and I wasn't in the mood to stand there in fucking height order, smiling till our cheeks hurt, as if we didn't have a care in the world.

"Edward Mason! Where the hell were you? Do you know what impression you gave that social worker by not turning up?" Grace's voice droned on, as I ignored her and carried on up the stairs. She didn't even stop. She was used to talking to my back. Nevertheless, within a few seconds I heard her infuriated huff and she turned around, storming away. Her nerves never had been the best.

I opened the door to my bedroom and saw the new girl sleeping, her body on her side as her head rested on her hands. She was curled up in an almost fetus-like position. I had known she would be staying with me. Tyler never stayed in our room, preferring to bunk in Lauren's. When we had been told that the new girl was to stay with Lauren, it had disrupted their plans, so as a solution Tyler had approached me and informed me that my new roommate was to be a girl.

Mike and Grace were aware of what was going on, but chose to turn a blind eye as long as no one let it slip. They were the type of people who didn't give a flying fuck about caring for children. They were only interested in the pay check they received monthly. It funded whatever shit they were trying to pull and as long as they had that, they were happy.

I sat down onto my bed, my back leaning against the wall as I appraised the new girl. Bella Swan. A few weeks ago her file had come through and everyone had sat down and learnt the general facts about her. Sixteen years old – as were most of us. She had been dropped at an orphanage a few months after she had been born and had already been in 9 foster homes. I had felt pity for her, when I had learnt that she had been thrown into the system at such a young age. She had never had her parents' love and affection. She would never have lived in a good family environment. She had never known what it was like. Which maybe was better as having known and then having to go on differently. I didn't really know.

A knock on the door startled me from the peace in the room and I heard Grace's voice call through, saying that dinner was ready. Her loud voice stirred Bella, who blinked up at me in confusion, before her face turned red. I snorted, as Grace told us that we would be eating as a 'family', before retreating to yell through everyone else's doors. Bella's expression turned quizzical, probably wondering why I had snorted.

"We never eat dinner together, unless it's for the beginning of when we get a new kid. Grace doesn't want the social worker's first impressions to be negative. She's all for creating the illusion of a good environment," I explained. Then I realised how stupid I was for not introducing myself first. "I'm Edward Mason, by the way." I smiled at her and watched her face flush red again, as her eyes made contact with mine and she hesitantly smiled back.

"Bella Swan."

---

To say that dinner was awkward would be an understatement. Everyone was unused to the formal setting – we never had dinner as a family, here or at any other home we had been at. It just wasn't something that happened. But Grace was adamant to prove herself after a few brushes with the social services telling her they'd take away the kids if she didn't turn her duties as a foster mother up a notch. She and Mike wanted those pay checks. So she resorted to putting on ludicrous displays like these.

All of us sat at the hardly ever used table. We were a bit cramped for space, but we managed. We ate mostly in silence, except for Mike and Grace trying to make small talk. They weren't really successful and so they stopped after a short while, deciding that they could put their attention to good use on other occasions. The food wasn't much. It never was when Grace decided to make an effort and cook. It was edible though and everyone shovelled the meal into their mouths. For a while all that was to be heard was the banging and scraping of the cutlery against the plates.

Then Eric, the youngest boy in the house, reached out to grab the jug of cold water which was placed in the middle of the table. His hand closed around the handle, however as he brought it back towards him, it slipped out of his grasp and we watched as the remaining water spilled onto the table, soaking the table cloth and pouring into his food.

_Fuck._

Mike Senior's face started to turn purple with rage and I held back the snort of laughter at his comical expression out of fear for Eric. The poor sod had arrived at our house a few months ago and, being the youngest, had been bullied by Mike and Jessica relentlessly. Mike Junior thought that just because everyone lived in his parents' house, he was the King of the fucking world. Jessica had latched onto him, so that she could lord it over the rest of us that she was fucking said King.

Mike Senior - in the meantime - clenched his fist, but a slight nudge from Grace, a look in Bella's direction and he just got up and left. Probably to release that tension somewhere else. All we knew was that, tonight, Eric was one lucky bastard.

Bella kept her eyes down for the rest of the meal – not that she'd kept them up that much to start off with. She looked to be one of those shy types, which got me instantly curious. You don't get many shy girls in foster care. Every girl I'd lived with had been loud, fighting for attention in a home filled with so many kids just like them. But Bella was different. She seemed to be in a world of her own, as she ate the food on her plate, eating every last scrap.

Grace tried to dispel the tension her husband had left behind, but failed miserably. Just like everything else she attempted. It seemed to be a pattern that followed her through her entire life. Not that I pitied her; she deserved everything that had happened to her. Jessica started to prattle on about some show happening at school. Lauren joined soon after. Tyler and Mike felt the need to ensure they still had their balls, so they discussed the manlier subject of the school's football team. I wasn't included in their conversation and I was content with that. I'd always been happier on my own, just like Bella, it seemed.

Soon, dinner was over and Grace collected the plates and dumped them in the sink, before making her way into the living room to stare at the TV. Lauren and Tyler retreated upstairs, as did Mike and Jessica. Eric looked around, then scampered off. Bella and I were left. She stared down at her hands, before standing and walking to the sink, turning the tap on and picking up the plates to start the washing. I sat there in total disbelief and stared at her.

She voluntarily did the washing up. Was she insane?! I wanted to warn her that if she did that shit once, people were going to take advantage of her and expect her to do it all the time. I should know. I'd decided one time to try and clean the place. Next thing I knew Grace yelled at me if I hadn't done something even though she hadn't lifted a finger. I put my foot down and that was the end of that. I wanted to tell her what they would expect of her, but she looked kind of at peace standing at the sink as her hands scrubbed the food of the plates, the suds of soap from the sponge falling onto her hands.

"Is there a reason why you're staring?"

_Alright, kill me now. _

How had I not noticed her voice? Maybe it was because it was hard to tell how hot a girl's voice is by her reciting her name, which was all she had said so far. Or maybe it was because she was questioning my blatant staring at her that got me all bothered. Whatever it was, I suddenly noticed how… alluring her voice was. Which was kind of weird – who the fuck finds a girl's voice 'alluring', except if they're playing the hero in a romance novel?

She cleared her throat and I realised I needed to answer her question, before she thought I was a complete nutcase.

"You're cleaning." I wasn't even sure if that was a statement or a question. She was just so damn confusing.

She stood still and I cringed at my obvious blabbing. No shit, Sherlock. What else was she doing? Stripping whilst working a pole? I think not. Although the mental image was certainly nice…

I shook my head at my thoughts. What the fuck was wrong with me? That was not me. I didn't think of girls in that degrading of a manner. It was wrong. And there were tons of girls around – plenty who would strip. And yet my mind started wandering, because a girl was voluntarily cleaning?

"Yes, I am – something you've never seen before?" I snapped away from my thoughts at the sound of her voice.

"Girls I know don't tend to voluntarily clean – that's all." She remained silent after that and I wracked my brain to come up with a question for her, so that I could hear that voice again.

"I'm not like any other girl you know."

Well, fuck me. An hour with her and I already knew that.

* * *

Review?


	3. Settlement: For You I Will

**Disclaimer: **Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

**A/N **Thanks again to everyone who as taken the time to review. They mean a lot to me. I'd love to see what more of you think.

Please pay attention to dates.

Thanks to Lena for beta-ing.

* * *

**Settlement: Part 1: A Chance To Befriend**

**Chapter 2: For You I Will**

_**8**__**th**__** October 2006**_

**BPOV**

I should start carrying around my own hangers. I mean, I already drag around with me my own shampoo and soap as I move between houses. Now I need to add hangers to that list. Turns out the Newtons seriously lack them. I rifled through drawers and cupboards around the room and came up with nothing. Normally when I went to homes, there'd be hangers in a closet. But here – not even one.

I walked out of the bedroom, looking around to see if there was a cupboard where shit like hangers would be kept. Often the homes had cupboards for everyone, where you could get extra towels, hangers… basic necessities. I walked over to a ceiling to floor cabinet and pulled the door open. Perfect. Shelves were filled and - towards the bottom - there was a clear drawer, which I could see held hangers. Pulling it open, I bent down to grab a few of them, when I heard a groan behind me. I whipped around, a hanger in hand and saw Mike Junior staring at me.

His gaze was fixed on me and a smirk graced his face. His blue eyes were a pale colour, standing out against his face which was reddened from what looked to be problems with acne. His arms were folded against his chest, as he leant back against the wall, one foot propped up against it. I guess he was aiming to go for the casual 'I don't give a fuck' pose, but he just looked like he was off balance and about to fall over.

"Um…hello." I mumbled out a greeting, in a bid to break the awkward silence. But he just kept on staring at me. My hand clenched around the hanger I was holding involuntarily, as Mike's tongue licked along his bottom lip.

"Bella, huh? Have to say your name is right – you sure are beautiful."

I don't know what it was. Maybe it was the way he licked his lips as he stared at my body. Maybe it was the fact that not once did he look at my face, but instead his gaze focused indiscreetly in the direction of my chest. Maybe it was the way he tried to make his voice smooth and seductive, but miserably failed. Whatever it was, I shivered and took a step back away from him. He was starting to creep me out and simultaneously anger me. I really fucking hate people - men especially - who prefer to address my body rather than my face, when speaking to me.

I didn't get a chance to voice my opinion on his statement of my name. Loud laughter interrupted whatever was happening between us and I turned my head to see Lauren's door opening, her and Tyler stepping out into the hallway. She froze immediately, as she saw me and Mike and her eyes fixed onto mine. Her expression looked confused as she appraised me, before she frowned.

"Bella, what was it that you wanted to show me?" I gaped at her, wondering what the hell she was on about, when one of her eyebrows rose up and I realised what she was doing. She was fucking helping me get away. Giving me a valid excuse, so I didn't end up pissing up an obviously stronger male.

The whole time I'd labelled her immediately as a bitch – and yet here she was. "Yeah, Lauren, it's in my room. Excuse us." I nodded briefly in Mike's direction out of polite courtesy. No reason to get him pissed at me.

I walked into my room, Lauren trailing in behind me. It was only once I was in there, my one hanger still clutched in my hand, that I realised the reason why I'd gone out there in the first place.

I groaned as I realised subjecting myself to Mike Newton had only resulted in gaining one hanger, which I doubted would hold all my clothes. I'm not someone who drags around a shopping mall – but I've got more clothes than just one hanger could handle. The hanger could hold an outfit. It was one of those which you could put trousers through the hoop thing and add a top and then a jacket.

"I know you may think I'm some urber bitch, Bella, but I promise you: When it comes to Mike Newton, I become your best friend." Lauren's voice dragged me out of my hanger musings. "That guy's got issues. I'd stay clear of him. He thinks he owns the fucking place, because we live in his parents' house." I nodded my head, thankful for her warning me. I'd gotten the same feeling myself and hearing it straight from someone who'd know, it gave me a better sense of being right, of being able to judge the situation.

"I better go. Tyler's meeting me." Lauren got up from the bed she'd plonked on and left. No goodbye, no last look back, but then again, I hadn't expected her to. She didn't know me, I didn't know her and she'd obviously built up her own kind of walls to get through the state system until becoming off-age and I respected that. Instead of letting my thoughts drift into the wrong direction, I decided to start unpacking whatever didn't need to be put on hangers. Last night I'd already started unpacking my underwear into the drawers, as I'd unfortunately placed it at the top of my suitcase. It was just my luck to have to showcase my knickers in front of Edward.

Speaking about Edward, it made me think back to the first time I'd seen him. I'd woken up yesterday to see a beautiful God staring at me. And by God, I do mean God. He had messy hair a colour I'm still unsure about. It was like a mix between red and brown - a copper or bronze colour. Whatever it was, that coupled with the gorgeous eyes staring at me and I found myself feeling all funny. He had said something then, I'm not sure what as I had been too busy looking at the pink lips forming the words to even pay attention to what was actually coming out of them. That was until I had heard him say his name.

Edward Mason. Fucking Edward Mason, who had kept staring at me with those green eyes of his throughout the night. I had never realised before how…hot the colour green was. I'd always seen it as a drab colour, which filled half the earth. But then again, I'd never seen the shade of green that sparkled in Edward Mason's eyes.

I'd gotten up to wash the dishes, after it had become evident that no one else was going to. Edward had stared and mentioned something about normal girls not washing voluntarily. I'd shrugged, told him I wasn't a normal girl and carried on with my task, whilst Edward switched on some music channel.

He had good taste in music, I'd give him that. 'Breaking Benjamin' was on and I hummed along, as I scrubbed the dirty plates. Half way through, Edward got up, grabbed a dish cloth and started drying the utensils before putting them away. We worked together efficiently and within 25 minutes everything was washed, dried and in the cupboards. I hadn't questioned his sudden change of mind about doing the dishes, because it didn't really matter. He'd helped me, why I didn't know and I wasn't going to ask. That was that.

After we had cleaned the kitchen, we had walked up to the room. Edward had told me about places around the neighbourhood. A park was down the street and there were a few shops across the road from the park. Not much, but it probably was enough to stay alive. Once we had been in the room, I had started my unpacking. Edward had sat on his bed, a notebook in his hand, iPod plugged in, and he had started doodling whilst I had opened my suitcase to unpack and cringed, seeing my underwear. They'd been the last thing I'd packed and the first thing I'd need to unpack. But with Edward in the room, I had felt my face go bright red, like it always does when I'm embarrassed at the thought of parading it in front of him. I had tried my best to hide it from his view, but I think he had got a peak, because when I had dared to raise my eyes to see him, his face had been red. Albeit, not as red as mine, but nevertheless – red.

* * *

It was refreshing, walking outside. A simple walk often clears your mind, even when you're not aware that your mind needs clearing. The wind whipping around you as you walk in silence. Of course it depends on where you're walking and what time it is. If you're trying to walk through a rowdy neighbourhood, the walk can make you more tense instead of relaxing you. But if you're walking through a park with a light breeze and silence around you, it's heaven. I stayed away from the playground area of the park where a group of teenagers decided to take over it. Instead I walked further into the park besides the trees, shaded from the sun which people frolicked in, their bodies lying on the grass as the sun beamed down on them.

I carried on walking, as I thought of my new housemates. The foster parents were laughable. Obviously didn't seem to give two shits about the children. I had had foster parents like them before who on the first few days of a new kid's arrival acted like perfect little bitches, until they got bored of the act and stayed in front of the TV or involved themselves in the neighbourhood criminal activities. I'd underestimated Lauren. She might have given off the impression that she was one of the girls who lived to make the lives of those less pretty unfortunate. But she didn't.

Yes, she had chucked me out of my room on the first day - but at least she had thought about where I was going to stay, which was more than could be said for her boyfriend. And she was there when Mike Junior started to get his freak on. And by that I mean get freaky weird. Not freaky sexy. Which is probably what he was aiming for, but failed miserable. All that he succeeded in doing was scaring me. Eric I knew was the youngest and the one who was to be picked on in the house. When you were the youngest in a house and especially if you were so scrawny it looked as if you wouldn't last two seconds in a fight, you could do nothing but accept the fact that your life in the house would be miserable.

It was a sad, but true fact.

And Jessica – another wrong assumption of mine. Had I thought before that Lauren could pretty much top her off with her bitchiness, I had been wrong. Before I had left to go for my walk, after deciding to take a break from unpacking, she'd approached me, a scowl on her face.

"Stay away from Mike, new girl."

I blanched at her. Did she honestly think I was the one going after Mike? But she did and she proceeded to barge into me, as she made her way past me, happy that her point had been made. There was no doubt that she was a bitch. And someone I could probably benefit from staying away from.

I carried on walking; looking ahead in the distance and spotting a bench which I started to make my way towards. As my steps took me nearer, I noticed that it was occupied and on closer inspection saw Edward sitting there with another boy. The boy was muscled, so muscled I swear to God he could have been on steroids. My eyes stayed on him for a few seconds as I noticed his curly brown hair and easy smile, before I focused on Edward.

Don't ask me what it was about him, but for some weird reason I found myself intimidated. Not in a bad way - more in a shy way. During his staring marathon last night, he'd officially made me feel all shy and timid, which I immediately chastised myself over. I was Bella Swan and I did not feel shy or timid when a man looked at me. Ever. It's a rule, goddamit, and I was not bending it for Edward Mason, no matter how green his eyes were or how much he looked like he had sex hair. Acting timid in front of a man gives of the idea that you're weak. And weak was something that I could never afford to be.

I reminded myself of that rule again, as I looked at him talking animatedly to his friend, and quickly turned around, heading back in the direction I'd come.

* * *

**EPOV**

Emmett sat on the bench, busy yapping on about his lack of money and how shit it made him feel when he couldn't give his soul mate Rosalie the world. I tried to tell him that, whilst Rosalie could be a superficial bitch sometimes, it was only because she was a bitter and jaded girl and that it seemed as long as she had Emmett she would be happy. But no - the bastard still insisted on burning off my ear with his incessant moaning.

I'd been friends with Emmett since I moved to live with the Newton's two years ago. We had met in school, when a senior had tried to bully me into giving him whatever cash I had on me. He had called me names, poking fun at the fact that I was a foster kid. Emmett had come along - all burly muscle and frown on the face - and kindly had told him to go fuck himself, before grabbing his shoulders and - get this - throwing him.

I had pretty much been in awe of the big dude and that moment had been the start of our friendship. He had introduced me to his best friend/girlfriend Rosalie Hale and had given me a warning to stay the fuck away from her, until she warmed up to me. Some shit had happened to her in her past. She spent her time clinging to Emmett who had been her best friend since birth or something like that. From the time that I'd known her, she had had no other friends. She got skittish around the guys and the girls here were bitches, whores and everything in between. Nobody seemed to want to put up with Rosalie's awkwardness. Her dependency on Emmett was unnerving and I often questioned him what she would do without him.

The last time, I had got punched. In the eye. He told me that he would never leave his girl, so she'd never have to cope without him. I guess I could see Rosalie's perspective, though. If something had happened to me, I'd be clinging to a guy like Emmett as much as I could. If I were a girl, of course.

"Are you even listening to me, dude?" Ah, he'd picked up on the fact that I'd been hanging in there with my thoughts. No reason to let him know, though.

"What? Yeah. You're lacking on money which is pissing you off, 'cause you wanna buy Rosalie shit. See, I'm listening."

Emmett grumbled to himself, before resuming his moaning about the lack of money. Not that I couldn't relate. Money was sure running very low. There were no legit jobs around that would take kids like us on. After attending interview after interview, the number of 'No's' I had received were enough to forever ruin my confidence. Why would employers employ someone with no experience, when there were hundreds of unemployed people who had the experience? It sometimes seemed like there was no hope for our generation.

Everyone was too busy being fucking ageist.

"So - what's up with the newbie?"

I was thankful that Emmett had stopped his prattling...but completely unwilling to talk about Bella. Fucking hell the girl had been with me for a mere few hours and she'd already had me thinking much more than any other girl.

And the weirdest thing was, I wasn't quite sure why.

Ok, screw that - I knew why. She was different. Refreshing. She wasn't a wannabe WAG. She wasn't a whore. She didn't plaster her face in make-up, so that she looked like a clown. A very scary clown. And she was kinda shy...down to earth. And I ate that shit up, because it was new. It was like chalk and cheese to the things I'd known up to now.

"Nothing much. Haven't really gotten to know her, Em. She did only arrive yesterday."

"So? You mentioned that Tyler'd been saying he was planning on having her transfer to your room. You're sharing a fucking room with her, dude. Maybe you can finally get laid."

Emmett really cared too much about my sex life for it to be normal.

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a virgin?"

"And when was the last time you had sex?"

I would counter that question back at him, but anything remotely related to the sex life between Emmett and Rosalie was strictly forbidden. Actually, anything related to sex around Rosalie was strictly forbidden. Which made me wonder how the hell she put up with the dirty minded ass that Emmett was.

"You haven't answered my question Eddie. I'm willing to bet your last sexy time was when you lost-"

"Don't fucking call me Eddie... Emmie." It was a lame come-back, but I was trying to divert him from carrying on with embarrassing me. My one and only time had been with a girl whose name I'm incapable of remembering. All I know is that she came onto me, led me into a room, stuck her tongue down my throat and basically did all the work. I laid there, wondering if this was all sex was cracked up to be. Don't get me wrong - it was....nice. Just not the mind-blowing brilliant I'd been led to believe.

Porn really builds up your expectations.

I'd just been thankful to shed my V-Card. But after that one time experience of a whole deal of fumbling and scratching from a girl whose nails were as long and sharp as a freaking blade, I wasn't exactly jumping on the bandwagon to find my next sex buddy.

Besides - I had better things to do with my time. Like try and find a job. Earn some money. So that maybe I could bust my ass out of this dump and take off somewhere else, maybe to Chicago where I had been born. Where I had had parents.

"But, dude, seriously. What's new girl like?" We'd had about two minutes of peace, just enjoying the view of our pretty run down park. But of course, peace and Emmett never goes together.

"Why'd you wanna know? You're with Rose, aren't you?" His bugging me about Bella Swan was beginning to get on my nerves. Ok, so I didn't want to talk to him about her, 'cause he's a mighty perceptive bastard and notices shit like when someone's got the hots for someone else. And he'd take great pleasure in annoying the fuck out of me if he figured Bella was the one I was hot for.

"I'm not asking for me, ass-hat. I'm asking for Rose."

"Ass-hat? Really? You're slacking on the insults, Em."

"Fuck you - you're avoiding me." See what I said about perceptive?

"Right - what was the question again?"

"What's up with the new girl? What's she like?" Emmett stared at me in that way that he does when he kind of wants a little bit to come out of your pants. I thought I was used to it....what after two years of friendship and all but nope - he could still manage to scare the shit out of me.

"Um... well. She's no Lauren Mallory or Jessica Stanley. She seems shy, I guess, which is weird. Most foster girls aren't shy as hell. Or at least none of the ones I've known. Honestly, though? I'm not sure what to make of her."

There. Vague, but true. Nothing which revealed my weird attraction, if that's what it was, to him.

"Good. Shy. Nothing like those two whores. Perfect. You think you can introduce her to Rose?"

I blanched. He'd never asked me to introduce anyone to Rose. Rose was like a taboo subject - kind of. You had to tread very lightly around her and when discussing anything even remotely related to her. And here he was asking me to introduce this perfect stranger to her.

"You high? Got some dope in your system?" Emmett glared at my questions, before shrugging.

"I've been getting the feeling that she wants some girl friends. I mean - if you think about it, I'm the only guy she properly hangs around with. And well - she's comfortable with you as long as I'm around. She needs a girl."

"And you think Bella is the right person? Dude, you ain't even met the girl. What happened to your personal screenings of every person who comes into contact with Rose?"

"Yeah, well, she's getting touchy, ok? She wants girl friends. And as long as the girl ain't a whore, I'm happy."

"And Bella's your girl?"

"According to you, yeah."

"And what - you want me to force Bella onto Rose?"

"Dude, no. Look - you're meant to be the smart one. Just tell Bella that you'd like her to meet a friend of yours. And you do the introductions. Done."

"You know they might not-"

"Must you always be such a pessimist wanker? Stop looking on the fucking down side of things and cut the emo shit. Introduce them or you'll have me introducing them." The thought of Emmett suddenly being unleashed onto Bella scared me. He was too blunt, untactful and loud. And if he were to meet Bella without me there to warn her, she'd be scarred for life and would refuse to look twice at me again.

And that would not be good. Damn, looked as if I was gonna do Em a favour.

* * *

I never get nervous talking to girls. Ever. I live with probably the two biggest whores in San Pablo, Oakland, so why the fuck would I get scared talking to girls?

Except the girls I was used to be around were just not Bella Swan. She was shy and different. More closed of, yet her boldness of asking me why I had been staring at her yesterday showed me that there was something more inside of her. Something special, something you needed to cherish, something more than the attitude she was displaying most of the time. A hidden fire, well concealed, but still burning, even if it was just ticking over.

She opened the door of the bedroom, walking in from her shower with her clothes in one hand and her towel in the other. Her pyjamas consisted of sweat pants and a large t-shirt. None of that lacy, stringy shit I'd seen Jessica sporting the few times I'd run into her in the hallway. Her hair was wet and dripping down her back.

Fucking hell, that shit made me even more uncomfortable to talk to her. If she was a regular girl, I'd have told her flat out – dude, my mate wants you to meet his girl. But I couldn't. Because she wasn't just a regular girl and that shit was eating me up. There had to be something about her which didn't turn me on. And damn me to hell, I would find it. 'Cause fuck it, I was living with her and that meant she was unavoidable.

"You want to meet a girl?"

Fuck. Shit. Damn. Are you insane, Mason? Really fucking insane? What the hell did you just say? A really clever way to put it, idiot.

Bella looked up at me, her face confused. Her brow was furrowed in a pretty fucking cute way and her nose had this adorable wrinkle to it.

Who on the face of this earth finds a nose wrinkle adorable? Really.

"Um..." I could feel myself going red, as she 'ummed'. She was probably trying to give me time to elaborate on what I meant. And I was gonna take that time.

"I mean - my friend's girlfriend isn't huge with having tons of friends who are girls. She doesn't...well, have that many - uh, friends who are guys either. It's kinda just me, Emmett, my best mate, and his girlfriend Rosalie." I was saying the word girlfriend a lot, but quite frankly, I didn't want to say 'his girl'. It would be just my luck for Bella to be a raging feminist and pounce on me for declaring Rosalie as part of Emmett's possession. And Lord knows, I didn't want to get on the bad side of her.

"So I was..."

Fuck Emmett and his overeager nature to make life for Rosalie Hale the best thing ever.

"You want to introduce me to her and see if we can be friends?" Bella finished off my sentence uncertainly. I thanked the Lord that she got what I meant and nodded my head frantically. I probably ended up looking like those dogs you see in the window of the back of a car or on a dashboard - you know the ones that are really fucking annoying -, but I didn't give a shit.

She got me. She fucking understood what I was saying through all my babbling and awkwardness. Dude - she fucking got me.


	4. Settlement: You've Got a Friend

**A/N** Thanks, as usual, to Lena for going through the chapter. Thanks also to Jess (Jess620) and Brianne (fly away tonight) for their input.

I'm currently the beta for Hideout by Belindella. Her story is in my favourites and it's got a good plot so check it out.

Please remember to look at the dates.

**

* * *

**

**Settlement: Part 1: A Chance To Befriend**

**Chapter 3: You've Got a Friend**

**B****POV**

**_9th October 2006_**

I should be used to it by now, what with me being moved around a lot. But something about the first day at a new school always gets me jittery. I'd wake up in the morning, butterflies creating havoc in my stomach, and wish I could just stay underneath my duvet for the next eight hours. Everything about a first day scared me. There was so much that could go wrong: getting lost on the way there; something being wrong with my timetable; being unable to find my way to class; the teacher being a prick; all the seats being taken up; not finding a friend; being bullied yet again, just because I was a foster kid.

It was inevitable. Foster kids were often an easy target for bullying - most of the time. It really depended on who you knew and whether or not you looked like the type to be submit to whatever they threw at you. The tough, older boys were rarely harassed, although insults could come their way. The girls who were willing to spread their legs for nearly everyone were also not picked on. But the ones like me, who didn't have the huge muscles on show for the world nor the whore capacity to fend it off, would end up being intimidated.

It wasn't always and it wasn't merciless. Whilst their comments were mean and they'd avoid you or bump into you, they would often be too scared to try anything completely physical. Because after all - they didn't know whether or not I happened to have a very terrifying foster brother who would beat the shit out of them or some weapon hidden on me. (The total essence of a clichéd foster child: dark and dangerous. Ha, as if I could ever be dangerous.) And what they did do was never bad enough that they would make me want to kill myself or anything like that, because quite frankly - they were just kids who had nothing better to do. And I had greater worries in my life.

At my last school I'd had to deal with some crazy bitch who had an inferiority complex and thought that picking on the new foster kid would make her feel better. I'd been used to it of course, so I didn't really let that shit get to me and my lack of response only ended up infuriating her. She'd throw my books down, trip me up, bad-mouth me. It was all relatively harmless and in the end I realised that the more time I spent dwelling on it, the more that shit would affect me.

My thinking was interrupted as my phone alarm went off, the song 'Chasing Cars' from Snow Patrol blaring out from underneath my pillow, and I quickly reached under it to grab the tiny piece of plastic and turn it off. My head tilted to the right, where Edward lay snoozing. He had someone for me to meet, a girl to befriend. Last night he'd asked me, stumbling over his words, until I had just about been able to make out the gist of what he had been saying, before telling me that her name was Rosalie and she was his best mate Emmett's girlfriend.

The thought that I had someone to meet already both thrilled me and terrified me at the same time. I was thrilled that at least I would be able to have a companion - sort of -, so the worry of being an outright loner was gone. But then again, I was scared of this girl. Why did Edward want to introduce me to her? What was so different or special about her that she couldn't make her own friends? What if I would do something that would upset or annoy both her and Edward, when I finally met her? And why did he think I could be the right one to make friends with her? After all, I was nothing that special.

I sat up, my hands throwing away the duvet as my legs swung over the side of the bed. I had to face this head on, like I always faced things. I did what I did every time before I was going to do something scary or different and closed my head, Jake's face immediately popping into view. I imagined his mouth curving into the smile that warmed me, his mouth forming the words that would make me believe in myself. And when I opened my eyes, I smiled. One worry down.

I moved the strap of my bag back onto my shoulder as I walked beside Edward on our way to school. The strap kept sliding down my arm, irritating me nearly to the breaking point. I'd treated myself to a new bag, before I had made the move to San Pablo. I had thought it was perfect; it was adorable but not too girly that I'd feel awkward carrying it. I should have walked around the store with it to make sure the damn strap didn't keep falling down my shoulder. Cursing out loudly, I risked a look to the side. This morning, Edward had told me that he would walk to school with me to show me the way and to keep me company. Which was sweet. And weird. I have to admit that I pondered whether or not he was a bit psycho. His wanting to introduce me to people, his need to walk me to school and his attentive staring the other day had me leaning towards the idea that maybe he might not have completely innocent intentions with me. Even though Lauren had said that he was a good guy and so far he'd seemed nice... his actions didn't make me trust him so much.

I hated myself for it. I wanted to be a trusting girl who didn't let her cynicisms about the world make her become suspicious of, probably, perfectly normal guys. But I couldn't. I had to over think shit. I had to be the most suspicious bitch ever. Well...not ever, but you get the point.

"So, we're here."

Up until then, the walk had been mostly silent, except for my indignant groans at my damn bag strap. As we stopped in front of the building, my eyes focused on the swarm of teenagers outside, the familiar huddles of different cliques noticeable.

"It's a bit of a dump, I know, but it's what we got."

The school itself wasn't really that much of a dump. Sure, it wasn't likely to earn an award anytime soon for best landscaping or architecture, but it looked... ok. I'd seen worse. But then again, I'd seen better. It was average, I guess. Nothing special. Nothing awful. Just average.

"I guess I'll take you to the office to get your shit." Edward's voice sounded different and it was then that I realised I hardly acknowledged his speaking. I'd listened, but never actually said anything to him. I did that sometimes. Forgot to speak. Forgot that someone was trying to have a conversation with me, as I lost myself in my mind. I cleared my throat, before thanking him for bringing me to the school. As we walked towards what I assumed to be the office, I saw Jessica with Mike sitting on a wall. Their hands were interlinked, yet they looked to be heatedly discussing something, totally negating the intimate nature of their touch. And the discussion didn't seem to be going Jessica's way, if her expression was anything to go by.

After I'd received my timetable, Edward led me over to the burly guy I'd seen him with yesterday and a blonde. Both of them looked like supermodels. The guy - Emmett's features, as I saw him up close, were brilliant, yet his girlfriend was even more beautiful.

Emmett had that certain innocence about him as his cheeky smile beamed at me. His curly hair and warm brown eyes made me want to lower my guard around him as he exuded this carefree nature. Rosalie on the other hand seemed to be anything but carefree. Her beauty was astounding-her hair fell around her in waves and her skin was flawless; however, despite her beauty, she seemed less sure of herself, more withdrawn and unconfident. It made her seem more down to earth. In a weird way, her personality seemed to be a complete 180 degree contrast to her looks, so that she seemed more balanced. She had insecurities like everyone else, even though she was stunning.

It wasn't what I'd have expected of a girl who looked like her. I'd seen so many girls who looked so much uglier, yet walked around like they were the Queen of England, a stick shoved so far up their ass you'd wonder how they ever managed a shit. I did notice that Emmett seemed very protective of her. I thought for a minute that maybe he was the type of guy who kept his girlfriend on a tight leash and might have even been hurting her, until I saw her look at him with this look of love and he returned it. For a few seconds, they looked lost in their own world, until Edward's voice cut through and introduced me. I was pretty sure I embarrassed myself by doing this silly half wave thing, but nobody mentioned it or laughed at me, so I shrugged the insecurity off and introduced myself. Emmett was easy to talk to, he had a bubbly care-free nature which warmed you up to him and made you feel comfortable.

I didn't get a single word out of Rosalie.

Well, except once, when we were in our first lesson, English, which I shared with her and Emmett. Jessica had walked in and, as soon as she saw me, glared at me with so much of hatred, for no logical reason, I almost felt like I should laugh. Probably not the reaction she would have wanted, but her glares made her look constipated. And that was funny. Anyway, Rosalie had seen and quietly asked what was wrong with her. When I told her Jessica thought I was trying to make the moves on Mike, she scrunched up her nose and a small smile could be seen, before she looked down at the desk.

And here I had thought I was shy.

After class, Emmett showed me where my second class was, which I ended up sharing with Edward. Out of the whole day, the only class I hadn't shared with either Edward or Emmett (and if it was a class with Emmett, Rosalie was also present) was P.E. Which I was glad for. Physical Education was my weakest subject and I didn't want to make a fool of myself in front of my new...friends. I wasn't as clumsy as I used to be, but still - I was terrible with anything that involved balls. Flying at me. Or being kicked at me. Whatever it was, we didn't get on. And considering that nearly every sport had something flying or being kicked at you, I pretty much failed. The only thing which I could rely on to stop me flunking was track. I wasn't brilliant at running. I was just average. Not so terrible that I lagged behind the rest of the class, wheezing like an old man and unable to breathe. But I sure as hell wasn't at the top of the group, running around at top Olympic-ly fast speeds without breaking a sweat. And yes, I did just make that word up.

After school was over, we all met up. Edward suggested we go to the park, before heading home. So we sat at the park and I listened as Emmett and Edward launched into descriptions of who to stay away from, who was alright, who was fun during class, who was an annoying pain in the ass, who were the best teachers, the worst... we sat there and they talked, whilst Rosalie and I listened attentively. It was fun. They were fun. And when Emmett asked if I wanted to go to a diner they normally frequented the next day after school, I smiled my most 'open' smile and said yes.

* * *

_**31**__**st**__** October 2006**_

After a couple of weeks, life at the Newton's was starting to grow on me. Actually, the Newtons and the home weren't doing shit for me. But Edward, Emmett and even Rosalie - though something was up with her - provided me with entertainment and laughs. They were fun to hang around with although there was something up with Rosalie and I wasn't too sure I wanted to know exactly what it was.. Which is a completely cheesy statement, but it was true. They were fun, although Emmett really took the award home for almost making me pee my pants. They were good friends and kept me company and I found myself able to talk to them. Well - talk to them more than other people. I wasn't exactly a complete open book, spilling out my secrets, and I probably never would be.

However, I'd also noticed that out of the ten days I'd been in school, four of those Edward hadn't been present for. I eventually asked him what was up with his lack of attendance. Did he have somewhere else to go? Maybe a sickness that required frequent trips to the doctor? "I've just got better stuff to do than sit in school. We don't learn anything that we're gonna need in the real world. Trigonometry and Pythagoras' Theorem sure as hell ain't gonna get me outta San Pablo. I look around for jobs. That sort of thing. Something which I can earn money from. I only attend school enough times so that the truancy officers aren't rattling on the door and no one's riding my ass about it."

I was shocked with his answer at first. I'd never have expected Edward to bunk off school. For some reason, I'd assumed that he was a good kid. Someone who stuck to the rules. Someone that tried to do good. But then I thought to myself how anyone could constantly stick to the rules growing up as a foster kid in towns where the crime rates were high. You'd end up getting jaded somewhere along the track - and besides, what he said made sense. He was looking for a way out, as was nearly everyone. But instead of just wishfully thinking like me, he was actually trying to do something about it, despite the fact that he could get in a fuckload of trouble for it. I respected him for that shit.

My time spent inside the Newton's house wasn't the best part of the two weeks. I still had Jessica glaring at me, even though I thought she'd have realised by now I was not interested in her boyfriend at all. Then again, I'd assumed that Mike would have realised that, too - or at least the fascination of me being the new girl would have worn off and he'd have found someone else to stare at. He had only talked to me once more since that time with the hangers. And at that moment, I'd closed my eyes and remembered _his_ face. Again. His words in my ear, telling me what to do. And even though I knew it would never happen, I'd felt that feeling of wanting him next to me again. Wanting to feel his warm arms wrap around me, protecting me. The feeling rarely came over me and when it did, I warned myself to stop. I mentally yelled at myself that the person to protect me was me...not him. He could never do that for me again. I couldn't let him.

But even though I stopped thinking of him as my protector, I still couldn't get his smile out of my head. His laughter rang in my ear, loud and boisterous. But then I thought of what happened the last time I'd seen him and the pain I'd felt came back to me, and the thoughts were quickly banished from my mind. After all, it would do no good to dwell on some fucked up crap that I couldn't change, no matter how much I wanted to.

The door opened and Edward stepped into the bedroom, a frown on his face. "What's up with you?" I asked, carefully folding the corner of the page of the book I was reading, setting it down on his bed. "I walked past their rooms. It's two in the fucking morning. Yet, they're all up and fucking like rabbits." I smiled to myself at Edward's swearing. When he was upset or annoyed at something, his speech ended up becoming filled with curses and his forehead would scrunch up into a scowl, his lips almost pursing together in annoyance. Highly amusing really, to hear someone, usually, so polite swearing like a truck driver. I doubt he'd agree if I told him that, though.

"How is it that the Newtons aren't aware of what's going on and putting a stop to it?" The question had bugged me for a while. They had to have known that it was against the rules to have members of the opposite sex sharing the same rooms in a foster home. It made no sense; surely they understood that basic principle?

"Oh, they know. They just can't be fucked to put a stop to it. As long as they get that pay check rolling in every month, we could all be shooting up every day and they wouldn't give a flying fuck."

I nodded my head at Edward's explanation, as he sat down on his bed. There were often foster parents who really didn't care at all about the kids. There were those few who did care and tried their best to do what was right, even though the kids could make it as hard as hell for them. But there were ones who tried. The Newtons fell into the category of those who didn't. The only time they cared was when a social worker cared to visit. The last time Leah had visited, the house had been cleaned and the Newtons had turned on the acting skills. Edward and I had stayed up in the room, refusing to participate in whatever they had planned. I'd only gone down, when Leah had called to see me. The Newton's lack of attention got on my nerves. It frustrated me that they earned that entire doe, yet they couldn't be bothered to ensure that their son was having safe sex. I knew I had to stop myself from dwelling on them - it was not like it would do a fat load of good, anyways.

* * *

**EPOV**

_**22**__**nd**__** November 2006**_

I was pretty sure that lately I had been walking around nearly all the time, sporting a big fat grin on my face. I'd probably annoyed the people who had to see me on a daily basis and weren't too keen on my enthusiasm for life, but I really just couldn't give a shit.

I was happy. Mostly. Well, I was happier than I normally was. For the first time in two years, hanging around Emmett and Rose didn't make me feel like a third wheel, because Bella was there. Sure, they probably had never realised before that I could sometimes feel like an outsider, 'cause if I'm honest, they would always include me and never do any of that PDA shit. But sometimes they'd get that look in their eyes. The one which made you feel like you were intruding on a private moment. It wasn't a look of 'I wanna rip your clothes of and fuck you right here'. It was more of an 'I love you so much, my soul is yours for eternity' look. Or something along those lines. It was even worse than a look full of lust, because it just made you feel like you wanted that love. You wanted someone to look at and you wanted someone to look at you. You just didn't know how you were ever going to find it.

And I have to admit I'm not one of those guys who go chasing after girls and always have to be in a relationship to make myself feel better. I have better things to do. I concentrate on getting out of the shit hole that I'm in and making a life for myself somewhere else. And when my life is sorted out, only then would I bother about finding someone to share it with.

But then, of course, Bella came along. I'm not saying that my plans are going to change. I'm not any less committed to finding a way out. It's just...she's something extra. Someone extra. Someone who's different. Over the past few weeks, as we'd started getting to know each other, hanging out as a group or alone, I'd started to like her. At first, it had been attraction, attraction to her adorably bright doe eyes and stubborn nature. I'd assumed things about her, but I hadn't actually known her. And now that I had started to know her, it was beginning to kill me. Because she was just so much more. She was more than I'd assumed. I mean, she was kind and fun and ok - so I found that thing which I'm not too crazy about, but I guess even that is attractive in its own way.

I thought that as I'd gotten to know her, my attraction towards her would start to fade. I thought she'd reveal her true colours - it would turn out that she'd be really annoying to talk to. Or that she was stupid or had no sense of humour and couldn't take a joke. But even though she was incredibly independent and didn't want to be looked after at all - she even hated the idea of me suggesting I could pay for her dinner, which annoyed me like hell, because I've always seen myself as a man who looks after his girl or any girl who deserves being looked after -, I still liked her.

The thing is: It scared me a little. I didn't want to end up getting so wrapped up with her that I'd forget what I'd spent so long working towards. But then again, maybe I didn't have to forget. Maybe I just needed to change it up a bit.

"So, Bella's nice."

"Yes, she is."

"You know, I have Rose... you have...hmmm, well, no one. I'm thinking-"

"Do you want your ass kicked?"

"You couldn't kick my ass anyway."

"Then, do you want me to tell Rose that you made me introduce Bella to her, so she'd have a friend?"

"Fuck no, she'd kill me. Or at least refuse to give me-"

"I don't want to nor do I need to hear about your sex life with Rosalie Hale."

"Wouldn't tell you anyway."

"You were just-"

"So, tell me again why you're not making the moves on Miss Bella?"

Oh, for fuck's sake.

The moment Emmett had caught me staring at Bella for a little longer than normal, he'd come to the conclusion that I liked her. It was a correct conclusion, but a conclusion which pissed me off nonetheless, as Emmett ended up being very vocal on his thoughts that Bella and I should hook up. I'd told the boy over and over that I doubted she'd want a relationship, especially so soon after moving and getting to know me, but the fucker didn't listen. He was beginning to piss me off.

"How is Rose finding Bella anyway?" I smiled as Emmett started to talk. A question about Rose could always distract him from the subject. "She's not too sure. She says Bella's nice and everything, but she ain't up for completely trusting her enough to know about her shit. I say to give it a few more weeks and Rose'll warm up to her. They'll be good friends. Bella's a good lass, she is."

I snorted at Emmett. He really did have a weird way of making things amusing. That, and there was the fact that he was the only person I knew who could get away with talking like an Americanized British person, seeing as he's never been out of California.

Bella slid in beside me, as Emmett and Rosalie sat across from us in the back corner of the diner we frequently visited. Emmett started laughing about some joke he'd been telling us, as we were walking to the diner and Bella joined in. I turned slightly in my seat, as I watched her laugh. It was a kind of psycho stalkerish thing to do - watch someone laugh, but I couldn't find myself giving a shit. Her head was thrown back, her hair spilling down her back which was covered in my jacket. It had been cold outside and Bella had only worn a flimsy shrug thingy. So, like a gentleman, I had pulled off my jacket and handed it to her. She had refused at first and I had found myself getting irritated at her stubborn streak of independence, but after the wind succeeded in making her shiver, she had finally pulled it on. I had to admit, it was worth the effort as she looked damn near perfect wearing my clothes. God, I'm a caveman. Oh well, can't help that instinct, I guess. A commotion at the entrance of the diner caused Bella and Emmett to stop laughing and my ogling of her to cease, as all our eyes turned towards the door.

_Fucking. Shit._

James and his cronies entered the bar like they fucking owned it. I noticed the same red-haired girl next to him that I'd seen at the park the day of Bella's arrival. He'd kept her around long enough, then. Surprising. I ducked my head and tugged at the sleeve on Bella's arm to attract her attention. "Don't look. They're bad news."

She nodded at my warning and kept her head down, her eyes focused on the table, as she fiddled with the unused paper napkin. I diverted my eyes from watching her and noticed Emmett. His expression was hard, his face paler and his fists clenched. He closed his eyes tightly, before opening them and locking his gaze with mine. "Let's get the fuck out of here. We'll hang around the cinema, go for a movie." His tone brooked no argument, but of course, someone had to see the irrationality of his thought process.

"We can't leave with them dominating the entrance, Em." Rosalie spoke up, as she glared at her boyfriend. Even though she was quiet most of the time, that girl could provoke fear. When she spoke, no one dared question her. "We'll sneak out the back."

I looked at Emmett, my eyes questioning him. Yeah, James and his group were bad news, but Emmett had never seemed nervous around them before. He'd never suggested leaving a place, just because they'd arrived. It had always been me who had done the suggesting. It was common knowledge that James and his group didn't pick unprovoked fights with people of Emmett's size. No, they'd normally target the weaker. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion at his sudden anxiety. He simply glared at me and hinted with his eyes to fucking move. So that was how he was going to play it.

It didn't matter to me. I'd find out what was up with him… one way or the other.

* * *

**A/N** Thanks for all the reviews. They mean a lot to me. I'd love it if those who have me on their favourites/story alert could review as well and tell me what you like/dislike.


	5. Settlement: I'll Be There For You

**Disclaimer: **Twilight belongs to Stephanie Meyer.

**A/N** Thanks so much to **Belinda (Belindella).** I'm her beta and she's now mine. And she did an amazing job with this chapter. This chapter was originally one of the shortest one's - around 3000 words. Then Belinda got her hands on it and made me expand so much that it's now the longest one I've written.

I'd also like to thank **Lena**, as always, and **Jess (Jess620**) for her help as well. Without the help of my beta's I would be useless. So massive thanks to you all.

Remember: Pay attention to the dates. Right now it's December 2006/January 2007. I'm not going to do this in chronological order. In the sixth chapter you'll see the change so I wanted to warn you to keep close note on the dates in case you haven't been looking on them.

* * *

**Settlement: A Chance To Befriend**

**Chapter 4: I'll Be There For You**

**BPOV**

_**11th December 2006**_

I've always heard those stories of how living with someone can put you off them. One of the few girls I'd kept in touch with from an old foster home had told me that within three weeks of living with her boyfriend she had gone from being in love to falling out of love and never caring if she saw him again. I was living with Edward. Well, technically I was living with three boys, but I didn't count Tyler and Mike. Tyler was still hanging after Lauren, probably eager to get laid, and frankly, I couldn't give a shit about him. Mike, on the other hand, seemed to forget that if he wanted to get laid there was a perfectly willing – damn an all too willing - girl with bouncy curls and bouncy everything else, who for the record hated my guts, wanting him. He was weird. Mike Newton Junior. Liked to hang around me, pretending he was God's gift to women when he most certainly wasn't.

However, despite being in the same house as Tyler and Mike, with Edward it seemed like I was actually living with him. We shared the same space. We slept in the same room. Yet, despite the horror stories I'd heard, living with him hadn't made me wish for another room mate.

It couldn't be further from the truth. I found myself wanting him. I wanted him in my bed every night. I wanted him to hold me in his arms. I wanted to feel his lips on mine. I wanted him to be with me; as my boyfriend, as my lover. And that freaked me out. I was Bella Swan. I was the girl who didn't go gaga over guys. And here I was ogling Edward Mason when he changed shirts. For a sixteen year old, he sure as hell had fucking gorgeous abs. And it sure as heck annoyed me when I would get mental images of my kissing up and down the planes of his chest. I didn't know what the hell was wrong with me. Ok, he was hot. But there were a lot of good-looking guys. And I didn't go thinking about kissing their bare chests. It unnerved me. That he could have the power to make me think these thoughts scared me. It weakened me. And I couldn't let that happen.

It could have been that he was actually nice. He was sweet. Like, he knew that I loved eating a slice of toast with jam and butter for breakfast. So he'd always make sure that I got some, either by leaving it out for me or making it for me and bringing it up to the room. He'd walk me to school even when he wasn't going himself, something that was completely unnecessary. I'd told him that, but he'd just scowled and told me to quit being so stubborn.

I relented – after all, the company was nice. I mean, Edward was great company. The best.

It just freaked me out, that's all. I couldn't afford to start feeling anything with Edward. I didn't want to get too attached to him and then have him leave. Everyone else had always left. Yet, I was attracted to him. And I wanted him. But I knew that I couldn't let myself get that close to him. So fuck it, I was in one heck of a dilemma.

---

"Emmett McCarthy, you're needed at the principal's office."

I looked at Emmett who scowled at the receptionist who'd come for him. He held up his finger, indicating one minute before leaning down towards Rosalie, whispering something in her ear, giving her a light kiss on the forehead, and then grabbing his books to walk out. He didn't even seem surprised in the slightest bit and for a second, I narrowed my eyes at him. He acted as though he had expected something like this to happen. So why was he needed at the office?

As Emmett left, I looked at Rosalie. Over the weeks, I'd noticed that something was definitely different with her. It wasn't a normal case of shyness like I'd originally thought. Something had seriously messed her up. She couldn't go anywhere without Emmett attached to her hip. The boy was like a protective father over her, always looking out for her, always there right beside her.

In a way, I admired how Rosalie could so fully trust him. She invested everything in him, knowing that he would always be there for her. On the one hand, I wanted to have what she had – to be able to put my whole trust in someone, without fearing that they'd leave me eventually. On the other, I wanted to yell at Rosalie, tell her that she had to man up and be there for herself. That she had to be strong. Independent. But I knew it wasn't my place to interfere. So I wouldn't.

The bell rang and Emmett was still not back yet. I felt a hand on my arm and turned to look into the panicked eyes of Rosalie.

"You gotta get me out of here, Bella." Her whisper was louder than any of the other voices in the room and I nodded, grabbing a hold of her hand and leading her out of the classroom. She clung onto me, her nails piercing my palm and when I looked behind, I saw her head was down, avoiding the glances of our fellow classmates. What had happened to this girl that she was so unlike every other woman I had ever met in my life? How could she have the looks of a fucking goddess and still act this way, staying clear of the boys who usually made up the upper half of the social ladder and clutching onto Emmett? No doubt, the boy was the best for her, but never before had I met a girl who'd even come close to her looks that hadn't been making her way around, one moment fooling around with this boy, the next with another. But here she was, freaking out, because her boyfriend hadn't come back from the principal yet.

I led Rosalie out of the school halls and onto the field where we went to sit by the trees, so that we wouldn't be seen bunking. It was awkward. I had never been on my own with Rosalie. Emmett had always been there. And on the small occasion when he wasn't, Edward was there. So sitting in an empty field with Rosalie was one hell of a bunch of awkwardness. I racked my brain, trying to come up with something to say. I hated silence. Awkward silence. It makes me nervous and uncomfortable. Then again, I suppose it does the same to everyone, so what the hell.

"You know, living with Jessica is disgusting. She's so loud during sex, Edward and I have to go to sleep with headphones." I blurted out the first thing I could think of. It wasn't my fault that, before the whole nervousness with Rosalie, I'd been thinking of how Edward kept complaining about Jessica.

"Can we not talk about Jessica having sex please?" Rosalie asked in a quiet voice. I looked over at her and nodded. I could understand her lack of desire to talk about Jessica Stanley and how loud she was during sex. It wasn't exactly the best conversation starter now, was it, Swan? And then I looked closer. It wasn't just Jessica she didn't want to have a talk about. It was sex in general that seemed to be an off-limits topic for her. The girl that I had always felt about like a riddle I couldn't solve became even more of an enigma. The problem was that I seriously doubted she wanted to talk about the reasons for her behaviour.

_Damn. Think, girl, think. This is bloody awkward. _

"So – you done that English assignment yet?" Rosalie sighed and her lips curved up the tiniest bit. The grateful smile I received for that question burned into my mind. She was thankful. Thankful that I was here, distracting her from whatever thoughts she had about Emmett and his absence. Maybe it wouldn't be so awkward after all.

----

_**6**__**th**__** January 2007**_

The next few weeks, the Holiday season passed. Drab decorations adorned the Newton house and we were forced to sit at the dinner table to have dry turkey, that Grace had tried to make, and watered down gravy in order to save money. Maybe I was being too harsh. It was a nice effort, seeing the lady is generally useless in the kitchen.

Afterwards, Edward and I went over to Emmett's house for a delicious Christmas dinner. His mum was brilliant in the kitchen and by god, the scent of the food made my mouth water as we walked in through the door. Edward and I sat next to each other and occasionally I would feel his thigh brush up against mine. I don't know whether it was on purpose or accidental. Even though I hoped like mad it was no accident, the fact it was happening at all had my mind in a spin. A bit of thigh touching and I was already imagining what it would be like to have him moving within me, looking into my eyes as I gave myself to him. I wanted him to want me like that so badly. Did he want me like that? Is that why his leg was brushing against mine? The thought that he might made my cheeks flush. I bit my lip fantasising more about him.

After that Christmas dinner I found my mind drifting over to him even more. Staying with him in the same room, nearly always being around him had started to drive me crazy. I wanted to just reach out to him, thread my fingers in his crazy hair and pull his face down to mine. I wanted to smile up at him and have him smile back down at me. My imagination went crazy but in reality, in the real world where my dreams couldn't come true, I just ignored the twitch of my hands wanting to slip into his for no apparent reason, whenever he was near. I ignored the way my body would tingle when he would brush up against me. I ignored the way his smile would make my tummy feel all warm and fuzzy and how just that simple smile, the lips turning up ever so slightly more on one side, could make me want to smile too.

We'd started to spend more time together. Obviously we were alone with each other quite a lot before, but that was only because we were sharing a room. But after that Christmas dinner we started to sometimes go out and wander around together, enjoying each others company.

One night, Edward took me to our local fair at the park. But instead of going on any rides or having fun at the stalls, we wrapped up in a blanket, his arm around me, and talked. We ate. We drank. We had fun in our own little way without delving into the hustle and bustle of the fair.

"You ever think that maybe there's another world out there?" Edward asked me. We were cuddled up together, his arm around me holding the blanket around my shoulder as we leant back against the trunk of a large oak tree, watching the crowds enjoy the fair. I relished his warm hold.

"What'd you mean?" I turned to him, curious about what he meant.

"Another world besides this rough area we're from. You know – someplace where we can be like normal people?"

"As opposed to the aliens that we are now?"

Edward mock glared at me, his lips curving into that familiar smirk I loved as he fought of his smile. "No. Normal people as in going to college and coming home to home-cooked meals and having parents who rag on our asses about doing the chores."

I sighed. I'd thought about it of course. Shifting around from home to home where a whole bunch of kids were was hard to deal with. I'd never had a normal childhood. But then again, I wasn't too sure what a normal childhood was. All I knew was that whilst some people had those loving parents who would nag them about pointless shit, I would sometimes have to be in a home, where there were two people who would care for me as well as four other kids and when I say care – I mean that lightly. They cared for us by taking the money they were paid to have us in their home, spending some on us, but most on themselves.

"We're normal Edward. Our normality is just different I guess."

That day I'd listened to Edward tell me how much he wanted to get out of our lifestyle. How much he yearned for the life he could have had. The life he _would_ have had if his parents had been able to continue to care for him and love him, and his biggest worry would have been passing a test at school to make his dad more proud. That night at the park we just sat on the outskirts, watching as everyone else made noise, in our own little peaceful area. Some might say that our way of secluding us from the rest of the world could be a metaphor for our general position in society. We were watching from the sidelines as everyone else was having a good time and we were alone. But this time, being alone with Edward wasn't half as bad as I might have felt if I had been anywhere else.

It was nice. It was lovely. It was fucking fantastic and since then I'd noticed he wasn't as - formal or as refrained as he usually was. He'd put his hand on my lower back if I was in front of him, he'd hold my hand when he wanted us to walk faster or his hand would go around the back of my chair if we were sitting down somewhere. I almost expected him to do the whole 'fake a yawn and stretch' thing that boys everywhere seemed to do, thinking that girls were oblivious to the very obvious move.

Yeah. We'd definitely gotten a whole lot more touchy-feely. This, of course, was perfect for me.

But God was it bad for my heart. The thing pounded like crazy when he would stand, so close to me that I could smell that musky, masculine scent of his. And when his hand slipped into mine I'd just about have a heart attack. I was so scared that my attraction to him was obvious as I was so pale. It was ridiculous and just the tiniest hint of embarrassment or nervousness and my face would flush so red I'd looked like I'd run a marathon.

I'd feel so happy and elated but then when I was on my own again I'd start to come down from the high that surrounded me when I was with Edward. It scared me. It scared me how much I liked having him around. I'd promised myself that I would never rely on someone, never want someone that much. Because people come and go and if I let myself grow attached, it'd hurt so fucking much.

And the scary thing was that I wanted to get attached. I wanted to be attached to Edward and let him in, but I was just too damn scared to let him. So, even though Edward made me happier than I'd ever been, he'd also managed to make me more frightened than ever. Frightened because I knew that whatever I was feeling, if I fell even further, I would end up getting hurt.

And I'd been hurt too much. I was scared to go through it again because who knew whether or not I'd actually manage to pick myself up again.

_**11**__**th**__** January 2007**_

I turned the page of my book, not exactly eager to carry on reading the lack-of-plot-driven book our teacher had assigned us to read. There was much better literature out there and she had to go and pick this for us to do an essay on. I'd be lucky if I made it to the middle of the book without falling asleep. Just as I was sincerely considering the option, the door to the room opened and I looked up expecting to see Edward. Instead I got the surprise of the week. Mike stood there, smiling. The way his face twisted into this cheerful mask made my shiver. Something wasn't right here and I had the sudden feeling that whatever he thought he had to get done here wouldn't be one of his brighter ideas.

"Bella. How are you?" The tone of his voice wasn't able to shake the feeling that something bad was going to take place very soon. There was an edge to his words that he'd either never used before or that I had simply been able to blank out until then.

"Fantastic, Newton. Wanna explain why you're in my room?"

"Edward not here?"

"Yeah. He is. He's sitting on the bed, wearing his invisibility cloak." The sarcasm was dripping from my lips like honey – sweet, but still noticeable - but Mike didn't seem to be deterred. I'm not sure he even properly listened to me. There was a glint in his eyes that could only be called maniacal.

"Oh. Well, then he can watch, huh.?"

I sat up straight, my book dropping to the bed.

"Watch what?"

Newton didn't reply, instead he closed the door and twisted the lock.

"You'll see."

**EPOV**

_**11**__**th**__** January 2007**_

So Emmett was up to something. He had been acting weird and reclusive and no longer wanted to hang out. Something was definitely up. He had even been leaving Rosalie on her own more and more. Normally he'd always try to be around her, almost to the point where I felt she surely had to be stifled by his constant presence. But she never seemed to mind, so I assumed she loved having him always there for her. Yet, lately, he'd been away from her more than usual.

Something was sure as fuck up. And I needed to find out what. He was my best friendand he was hiding something from me. And I know I sound like a girl, getting all whiny about my buddy not spending enough time with me, but well – ok, screw it, that's exactly the problem. We were friends and friends told each other shit. He obviously didn't know what that meant if he kept playing the fucking disappearing act all the time.

I had a horrible feeling, that whatever the fuck was going on with him, it involved that gang with James and Laurent. When we'd been at the diner a while back and he saw them come in, I knew something was definitely up, but he refused to say anything like the stubborn prick he was. He'd just made us get out of there and kept his mouth shut. Which, of course, irritated me like anything.

I was scared that he'd gotten involved with them. If he had, he had to have known the type of bastards they were. He had to have known that they were rumoured to have people who'd wronged them killed. James had an older brother, Aro, who held all the contacts, but James was a sick fuck and was the brains of their whole gang.

"Edward, man. What's up? You said it was urgent?" Emmett walked towards me, his loud voice as usual causing people to look up. I'd asked to meet him at our spot in the park. And of course I had said it was urgent. It was the only way you could guarantee that he'd show up nowadays.

"What's going on, Emmett?" I cut to the chase, bluntly asking him what was happening as he sat down.

"Well – I was sitting in Rosalie's room, watching things your young eyes should never see, when you decided to ring and ruin my fun."

"Don't be facetious, Emmett. What's going on?"

"Now, I ain't stupid, Edward. But sometimes, when you throw in those big words, you confuse a brother." Emmett smirked, crossing his arms. I recognised the pose. It was his classic defensive 'you're not getting anything from me'

"Emmett." He rolled his eyes at me. We were both two stubborn bastards. He knew he had to say something to placate me.

"Look. I'm not gonna tell you what's up, alright? All I'm gonna say is that I'm fine. Nothing's wrong. I'm not in any trouble. Everything's cool. We done now? You wanna shoot hoops?"

I sighed – that was as much as I was going to get, and I knew it. For now, it would be enough. But if there was going to be anything out of order in the next few weeks, anything that struck me as fucking wrong, there was no way he'd get out of it as easily as this time. That I would make sure of.

"Whatever, dude. You got a ball?"

We tossed the ball around a couple of times, before a four year old came running over, trying to get the ball himself. His parents both ran behind him, eventually the father bent down to scoop him up in his arms and take him back to their spot at the bench.

"You think we'll ever have that?" I asked, my eyes following the young couple.

"A four year old boy who likes to play basketball?" Emmett responded, causing me to roll his eyes.

"No, dickhead – that. That..."

"I get it. Yeah. Maybe. One day. Who knows, right?"

We both stopped playing, both watching the young couple in love, both thinking our own very separate thoughts.

I walked from the park after my meeting with Emmett thinking of Bella and how we've been getting closer lately. There was something about her, something so fucking different. I'd met a lot of people in my lifetime. One of the perks I guess of moving around the homes a lot. But there was something about Bella Swan that attracted me. She was shy and beautiful and had no idea how attractive that shit was to someone like me.

In my neighbourhood, in the neighbourhood's that I'd grown up in, the girls were forward. They knew what they wanted and they aimed to get it. Of course, there were always those few outsiders who weren't like that – but those few girls, and trust me they were few, didn't have so much personality.

I admit, at first, Bella attracted me because of her looks and her shy demeanour which was such a nice change. But then we started to hang out and I ended up laughing at the amount of shit that would spill out of her sarcastic mouth. She'd get all smart about things as well, and that fucking turned me on because no matter how much of an asshole a guy was – he would want a girl wasn't full of air in her head. He'd want someone who was smart and who could carry on a conversation. Because whilst those pretty, stupid girls are all fun and games and the easiest to put out, no guy would be able to stand half an hour in their presence unless they were getting off.

It was a simple fact.

And Bella had that smart shit down. She may not have been able to compete to be the national teen scientist or anything like that but she had things to say, had fucking _interesting_ things to say.

And my girl could listen. Some girls rattle on and on and then when they ask you a question it's only out of politeness so as not to feel bad or some sort of shit like that. But Bella listened to me. One night I'd taken her to a fair and instead of being a happy companion I unloaded my feelings about how I wanted to escape from this life on to her.

And she just listened. She took it all in, listening intently to my words and that feeling was amazing. Knowing that she cared enough about me to not just zone out of whatever I was saying.

I guess it was then, at that fair when I knew I had to have her. We'd been getting closer and closer – both physically – and, Emmett would have my ass if he could hear me say this, but emotionally as well. We'd share sly touches with each other, her hand brushing against my own, sparks – and I mean fucking sparks – shooting up my arm the moment our skin connected. We'd have those moments where we'd look into each other's eyes and – I sound like a fucking pansy – but I swear it was like I could see her emotions there.

I could see that she was funny and beautiful and shy and strong as hell. Because she was. She had this desire to be independent, and it irritated the fuck out of me because there were times when a man wanted to feel like a man and do something for his woman. But Bella, being the independent woman that she was, always wanted to do things her way, on her own.

I guess, in a grudgingly sort of way, I had to admire that she was so strong and independent. Then of course, when I wanted to offer her my seat and she refused to take it, I felt like telling her to just sit the fuck down and shut up.

Course I never did that. I didn't want to offend and hurt my Bella when she wasn't even mine.

Damn. I didn't want to offend or hurt my Bella ever.

I walked into the Newton's house, smiling to myself, thinking of Bella and how close we'd gotten in the last few weeks, when I heard some muffled shouting. I frowned, wondering what the hell was going on, and made my way up the stairs where the shouting got louder. Dropping the ball, I realised it came from my room. _Our_ room. Those shouts were Bella's. _Bella's._

_Fuck. Shit. Damn. Fucking hell. _

I tried turning the door. I shoved at it, when it refused to open. Then I took to screaming. My heart was racing in my chest, bumping against my rip cage, so hard it physically hurt. She was in there and she was far from fine and I was out here, unable to get to her. The panic threatened to nearly choke me up.

"BELLA!"

Her shouts got louder. Then I heard her calling my name. I think that was it what finally did it. I walked a metre back, then went running into the door with my shoulder facing forwards, crashing through it. The scene was far worse than I had imagined and still not as bad as it could have been.

Mike Fucking Newton.

Bella was hitting at him, the two of them standing up, as the bastard tried to dodge her punches and called out leering remarks to her. Stupid fuck. She was clearly beating his ass and he wanted to go and fucking antagonise her some more. I made some sort of noise out of my fury and lunged, my fingers grabbing at his hair and pulling. I turned his face around and saw that his nose was bleeding and he looked to have some cuts on his face. I don't know exactly what happened then. All I know was that I started hitting and kicking and fucking hurting the bastard for trying to hurt my girl. I smelt the alcohol on his breath as he called out in pain, and I recoiled, disgusted. As much as I wanted to do his head in, I would never do it while he wasn't fully conscious. It wasn't exactly that I was averse to hurting someone who was restricted by alcohol – not if he deserved a good beating -, but it would be considerably more satisfying if I could claim victory when he wasn't drunk off his arse.

"Get the fuck out of here, Newton. You step near her again and I'll make sure your balls are fucking cut off." My voice seethed with rage and hearing myself, I sounded like a fucking animal. It was weird because not once had I ever felt such utter anger consume me like it did at that precise moment.

Once Newton had scurried away, frightened like the fucking prick he was, I took deep breaths to calm down – or at least attempt to calm down -, before turning around to Bella. She was on her side, lying on her bed, facing the wall. I knelt down on the floor beside her and tentatively brushed my fingers through her long, silky hair.

"I could've handled that, Edward."

I backed away instantly and stood up, shocked at her words. I'd just tried to protect her, I had my hand bleeding and she'd turned around and told me she could have handled it?

"Bella, he could've hurt you!"

"No, Edward. I know how to fight. He tried to, but you saw what I did to him."

"I don't understand, Bella – I tried to protect you and you resent me because of it?"

Bella sat up, her eyes filled with tears as she looked at me. And I couldn't find myself giving a shit about what we were arguing about, because all I felt like doing then was comforting her.

"I don't resent you, Edward. I just don't want you to fight my battles, that's all."

I turned my back on her, walking to my own bed and flopping on it, my face burying deep into my pillow. She didn't want me fighting her battles. That wasn't what I'd expected. At all. I frowned, wondering what exactly went on there. I thought she'd at least be fucking thankful or something but instead she'd turned on me. _Me._ The one who had tried to help her. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath knowing I couldn't fault her. I knew she was an independent. I knew that. But really – I never thought she was so independent that she didn't want me to help fight some bastard off of her. I was just – confused.

I heard the light rustling of fabric as Bella lay down again andsilence enveloped us. The still, quiet air in our room thickened and unnerved me. It was too awkward, and I didn't share awkward silences with Bella. That wasn't us.

After a few minutes, I could bare it no longer, so I asked her, "Why?"

Why was a fucking good question. Why didn't she want my help? Why didn't she want to accept it when she needed it? My confusion mounted, and I struggled to keep my emotions in check. I wanted nothing more than to get up off my bed, stride over to her bed covering the small distance between us and shake the answer out of her. She was taking too damn long to answer. My fists clenched, my finger nails pressing into my palm creating small indentions and the slight prick of pain drew me back to reality.

I couldn't do that. I wanted to know why but I had to give her time. She had her reasons. I needed to respect that and wait it out. And quite frankly, the idea of me actually physically shaking her disgusted me. I felt shame creep up on me as I tried to forget that I had, a few short moments ago, wanted to do that. I was better than that. I was taught in the few years I had my parents with me, to always love and respect a woman.

But I was so confused, so hurt that she rebuffed my help for her. I only wanted to be there for her and help her out when she needed me. But something stopped her from accepting that. And I needed to wait to find out what it was.

I heard a sniffle then and my eyes snapped open, my head turning to see Bella still lying on her bed, her back to me.

_Fucking hell please tell me she's not crying._

I slid off my mattress, and walked over to her slowly before gently sitting on the edge of her bed beside her slight body, my hand softly caressing her hair, shifting the strands away from her face.

_She wasn't crying. Good. _

But Her face was red – from what I didn't know. It Didn't really matter to be honest, because Bella had a tendency to have a red face quite a lot. The girl embarrassed easily. Or was flustered easily. Whatever it was, the sight of her blush always turned me on, but then, at that moment, because I was sure I'd heard her sniffle a moment ago, all I wanted to do was draw her into my arms and hug the shit out of her.

So I did.

I held her close to me as if it were as crucial as breathing. Immediately, whatever anger and confusion and hurt that I'd been feeling, left as she turned in my arms, toward me, to snake hers around my waist. Bella's head nestled into the crook of my shoulder as she hugged me back, pretty fucking tightly I might add. And despite all the shit that had happened before, I smiled to myself as her body pressed against mine.

Perfect.

"When I start to try and rely on someone, Edward, they'll just let me down." Bella's voice startled me out of my thoughts as I focused in on her words. The words were so plain, spoken so simply and with utter conviction that my heart clenched. So there had been a time when she had trusted someone. There had been a time when she had relied on someone else but herself. And then that somebody went and betrayed her? Fucking great.

_Well there's your answer dick-head. _

I didn't know what to say to her. I had no words to make her feel better and didn't want to end up putting my foot in my mouth, making the situation ten times worse. So, instead, I just hugged her, holding her against my body, and pressed a soft, gentle kiss on the top of her head. I didn't think she even noticed it, it was so gentle.

Whilst I was still mulling over Bella's past, whatever had happened to her that she'd turned out the way she had, I made a silent vow to her.

_There's no way in hell, Bella, I'd ever let you down. You're my girl and no matter what, you can count on me. _

* * *

**A/N **I just want to thank all of you have put me/this story on their favourites and story alerts. It means so much to me. And thank you so much to all of you who take the time to review. I do a mini happy dance every time I get an email of a review. So keep them coming!


	6. Settlement: A Chance to Befriend

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight.

**A/N **Thank you to everyone who's been reading/reviewing. We passed 100 reviews. I did a fucking happy dance when I saw that.

Thanks to Belinda (Belindella) for being an amazing beta. Thanks also to Lena and to Jess (Jess620) for her help as well.

This is the **last chapter in this part **– A Chance to Befriend. Next chapter there will be a time jump. So for this chapter we are at **30th January 2007 **throughout.

* * *

**Settlement: A Chance To Befriend**

**Chapter 5: One Fine Day**

_**30th January 2007**_

**BPOV**

Ever since that night with Mike Newton, Edward was more protective. I didn't know how to feel about that. I'd felt bad when I'd told him I didn't want him fighting my battles for me, when I had seen the hurt look on his face. I don't want to hurt him. I just want him to understand that I couldn't have him fighting my battles for me. That I can and will defend myself.

But then I realised that this protective nature was just _Edward_. He wanted to help. He wanted to protect whatever was precious to him. Whatever he cared for and respected, he wanted to look didn't want me fighting my own battles, whilst he stood there watching idly when he knew he could do something about it. I guess he'd spoken with Emmett about what had happened, as one day at school Emmett explained Edward Mason to me.

Emmett told me that Edward was just the sort of guy who thought he had to be the gentleman. Edward thought he had to be the Knight in Shining Armour.

And over the weeks since I'd been attacked by Mike, I'd learned that I had to respect that about him_. _Just like Edward had to respect that under no circumstances, I would allow him to fight my battles for me, without any kind of my help. The night that Mike fucking Newton had tried to... I'd seen that Edward was hurt and confused by my need for my independence. The following day he had gone off somewhere for hours without me and the day after that Emmett had talked to me. So that night, I'd sat Edward down, and we had compromised.

Edward had walked into the room, his hands running through his hair as his eyes met mine. My eyes widened as I saw the confusion there and I knew I needed to explain myself better. I'd asked him to sit down next to me and he'd relented, settling so close to me I could feel his body heat.

Which made it so fucking hard to concentrate.

"Edward. Emmett told me about how you like to be the gentleman and the – hero. But, I don't need that."

"I know you don't always need it Bella. And that's alright, I guess – just there are times like what happened with Mike where I can't just sit there and watch it happen."

"I guess I should be flattered but – I just-"

"I know you want independence. But I can't just sit there and watch something happen..."

Edward agreed that I could defend myself and fight for myself.

I agreed to let him help me.

We both weren't too keen on the idea, but it was a compromise from our extremes. And we had needed to compromise because living in the same room as someone in a tense situation was annoying. And if I was honest and let my inner girl come out, it was pretty fucking hot how protective Edward was. Remembering him bursting into our room ready to kill Newton for me... Yeah, he was bloody hot. All strong and angry. Because someone tried to hurt me.

Edward really seemed like he cared about me. But was it enough for me to trust him completely? No. I wish it was but I knew that I had to guard my heart. I knew, from experience, that opening yourself up to someone just gave them the opportunity to hurt you. And I couldn't go through that. I couldn't let myself be hurt because of my own stupidity. Because of my need, my want to open up myself to a man – no matter how amazing or caring he was.

But since we'd had that talk I'd started to notice even more changes in the way that we would act around each other. Admittedly, we had never been 'just friends'. Or, at least, I'd felt that way. There was always that attraction; that need for him that unsettled me. And then the Mike thing had happened and Edward had started to be around me even more than usual. His casual touches would become more frequent. His body would be close to mine.

And god, I loved it.

I'd, of course, have loved it even more if we weren't two of the shyest idiots in the world, and could hash our feelings out and say: 'Yeah, dude, I like you. Let's get together, yeah?'

Instead, we chose to play the 'he touched my hand, did he mean to touch my hand?' game. And living together was one hell of a tricky business. We weren't just friends, but we weren't anything more. We were in that horrible place in-between. Which just made things so - awkward, I guess it was so hard to live with Edward, wake up in the room as him, go to sleep in the same room as him and not want more. It was a constant adrenaline rush. That feeling you get when you're around your crush? There was no break from it.

It was there all the time. Because he was there all the time. Making my heart flutter and by body ache - there.

And that feeling, it scared me. It scared me and it made me happy. I was in a constant conflict with myself, arguing over whether or not I was happy or wanting to run into a corner and hide myself away. I loved how I felt with him. But then I'd flash back to how I let myself open up before – and how broken I'd felt afterwards. And the feeling of happiness would start to ebb away as the fear settled in. But then I'd see him again, he'd smile at me and I'd feel all warm and tingly inside and the happiness would be back in place.

It was a constant, vicious cycle.

* * *

"We should've had this picnic on a cooler day." Emmett moaned, as he unwrapped one of the chicken sandwiches Edward and I had made in the Newton's kitchen together, whilst 'accidentally' bumping the other with incidental nudges. I could have made those sandwiches all day!

"Go home, Emmett if you're just gonna sit here and complain," Edward snapped. I could practically feel the irritation rolling off of him in waves. And if I was being honest with myself, I could understand Edward's irritation only too well. We'd been at the park for an hour and okay, it was quite hot, but it was nearly always hot here. Nothing new. So far, Emmett had probably complained about six times. That was once every ten minutes. For some reason, he wasn't too keen on the heat.

"I just think it would be a good idea if we, you know - left now. We've eaten. Hung out. How about we go back to my place?"

I rolled my eyes. The whole reason we had chosen the park was for a change of scenery. Sure, it wasn't much – the park, if you could actually call it that, was mostly just a patch of dry, patchy grass with a couple of swings that looked about to break. In its defence, it had one hell of a wicked slide. The four of us had taken turns sliding down the thing and it was so much better than the one I'd had at my old park.

"Emmett, let's just stay here for a while." Rosalie spoke, turning to face him. Edward and I grinned at each other. At least, now he'd shut up for a bit. No matter how he felt, no matter how much he whined… Rosalie would always come first for Emmett. Her wish was his command, as they say.

"I'm not sure, Rose. I think it might be good if we left."

Well. That was a first. I was kind of stunned there and Edward didn't look as though he had anticipated this answer either. Since I'd been hanging out with them, not once had Emmett ever denied Rosalie from something. Before anyone could question him on it, though, we heard shouts coming and Emmett tensed.

"What the fuck?" Edward looked towards the direction the noise was originating from and I saw a car had driven into the park, people leaning out of the windows and yelling at some group of boys crowded around a park bench. The group of boys were all huge, both in height and muscles. Those people in the car had a death wish. Who the fuck would go up against six or seven boys who looked to be on steroids? Then I looked closer.

_Oh. That's who._

Over the past few months I'd seen them around the neighbourhood. Edward had made sure to slyly point them out to me. So when I saw them step out of the car, I instantly felt afraid for those bulky guys on the park bench.

I recognised the blonde as James – he was apparently a vicious bastard. I'd heard horror stories from Edward of how he'd kidnapped and killed a member of his own gang, 'cause the guy had wanted more money. He'd done it in front of the rest of the members as a sign - a warning. It was a sign to everyone what would happen if they tried to double cross him. Or even if they demanded more money or didn't show him respect. He walked around San Pablo like he owned the fucking neighbourhood – and I guess, in a way he did. He was definitely the protégé of one of the top underworld people. And word on the street – well, more like the gossip that the busybodies of this neighbourhood were keen to spread - was that he was destined to take over soon.

James was followed by the dude who was always with him – an African American lad who I had been told was called Laurent. There were about three other men with them who I didn't know. Probably some of James' henchmen who did the dirt for him when he didn't want to soil his hands with subsidiary matters.

"Shit." Edward cursed, "What the hell are we gonna do?" Emmett just frowned, glaring at the ground.

"We can't just up and leave now, they'll notice us. We'll have to fucking stay."

I scooted closer to Edward, as the four of us watched what was were too far away to hear the words that were being said, but we could hear the shouts and noises. All of a sudden, I saw one of James' men take a swing at one of the boys, despite the fact he was shorter and soon a fight had broken out.

"We should leave. They won't notice." Edward spoke, his voice urgent. "Start packing. Quick." Edward and I started shoving the remains of the food into the plastic, carrier bags we'd brought with us, Rosalie folded the blankets we were sitting on, whilst Emmett packed away the paper plates and cups. I picked up the container of grapes we'd brought, searching for the lid, when I glanced over at the fight.

_Shit_

The container fell out of my hands, the grapestumbling onto the grass, as I stared at the boy amongst the group. I noticed his hair, his beautiful black hair, was cut short, no longer tied up in its ponytail that I had loved so much.

_Shit_

Somehow, more of James' men had appeared from god only knows where and two men were laying into the boy....man. My boy. My man. I gasped as I saw their fists fly into his face, their kicks aimed perfectly at his body. His head turned to the side in an effort to protect his face and I knew then that he had seen me. The shock showed clearly on his face, overruling the face twisted in pain for short moment. A hand grabbed at me and I turned to see Edward staring at me.

"Come on, Bella. What are you doing?"

I turned away from him, sneaking one more glance at Jake. Our eyes connected, before a punch distracted him and he started to fight back. I turned around to see that we were packed up and Edward was waiting for me to snap out of whatever funk I was in. I nodded my head, turning back one more time, smiling as I saw Jake spring back to life, showing James' men the skills he had taught me, before I turned around to grab Edward's hand and run out of there.

* * *

**EPOV**

Well, fuck James and his group for disrupting the day. It'd been so great and relaxing to just hang out with everyone and just sit in the sun and eat. Emmett had kept going off on his own these past few weeks, doing something so secretive he couldn't even tell his best friend. So for once, we had all been together and – apart from Emmett's incessant moaning – it had been pretty damn good. Bella and I had sat next to each other and I had watched her, as she had talked and laughed with Rosalie and, God – I had felt like such a wanker, just sitting there and smiling at a girl who wasn't even my girlfriend.

But, god. Oh god, how I wanted her to be mine.

She just – I don't know. She was the independent type. The type who I could tell wasn't too keen on the whole relationship thing. But fucking hell did I want her to be. Which scared the fuck out of me_, _because I had not factored having a girlfriend or a relationship in my whole plan to get out of the foster system and build myself a better life. I had wanted to get out, then find myself a girlfriend. Someone to love. Someone who I could be with, just like my father had been with my mother.

That was love.

I'd been with them up until I was four and they had showed me what it meant to love. I may have been really young, but I remembered that. That was etched in my mind forever; the love they shared and gave. None of this whole cheap shit love thing that Mike and Jessica seemed to do. None of that. It had been all...meaningful. They had loved each other. They had been friends. And I wanted that. I wanted a relationship with Bella. She was sarcastic and funny and had that annoying way of always needing to be independent.

And she was so fucking beautiful. I woke up with more of a problem than usual guys every morning, because I had had to listen to her breath and sigh in her sleep all night. I'd wake to see her soft, slender body outstretched in front of me, her breasts rising and falling with her breaths, her plump lips, parted slightly with a look of total peace on that beautiful face of hers. That face that I wanted to see gasping and moaning as we took pleasure from each other's bodies... The effect these thoughts had on _my_ body was so fucking hard -no pun intended- to hide from her all the time since we slept only two metres from each other.

I'd always felt that there would be no way in hell that I'd meet a girl whilst I was still here. All the girls here – or at least a good majority - were trashy whores. Girls who I wouldn't look twice at because of their need to pile on the make-up and open their legs. I didn't need nor did I want someone like that.

I needed—wanted--Bella.

Bella and I had walked back into the Newton's house and tried our best not to laugh at the spectacle that we were faced with. Mike Senior and Grace were having their normal fight – he was busy yelling his head off about some broken sofa and she was busy throwing beer bottles at him. I groaned and rolled my eyes, but smiled when I saw that Bella had finally come out of whatever funk she had been in long enough to grin.

Something had been up with her at the park. Something had been up with Emmett at the park. It was unlike Emmett to moan. But he had wanted us out of there. And he had kept on and on and on it. It had been fucking annoying. Then James had turned up and Emmett had gone and glared at me like it had been my fault.

It was weird.

Although I've got to say, the weirdest thing had been when Bella had ended up just.... I don't know. It was like she had just blanked out and had been fixated on some dude who was getting beaten up. We'd been trying to clear up and all of a sudden I saw her drop the grapes and then she was there – staring.

To be honest, I'd followed her stare and hadn't seen much there. There had only been a guy there being beaten up. And quite frankly, there had been about several guys being beaten up. Why she had fixated on just that one confused me. I asked her about it on the way home, but she still seemed to be in a daze. Had she never seen a fight before? Really? I mean – she'd lived in tough neighbourhoods before. Surely, this couldn't have been her first fight to witness.

Back in our room, I lay on my bed, cursing at James for ruining a perfectly good day. Bella lay across from me in _or on_ her bed and as I was watching her out of the corner of my eye,. I saw when she decided to sit up and turn to face me. I didn't know whether she wanted me to sit up as well, so I decided to just listen to what she told me.

"Edward."

I looked over at her and saw her face was paler than normal. Which I had thought would be hard, because she was already pretty damn pale.

"I, um...I saw an old friend today."

I immediately sat up. "Was he part of James' crew?" God only knows what that would mean, seeing her friend being a part of that bastard's crew.

"No. He was being beaten up." She looked down, her face showing a mixture of confusion, sadness and desperate need to be comforted, and I got my ass out of my bed and went to sit beside her, my arm going around her body, as I pulled her closer to me.

"You know when I got mad at you? Because of Mike?" I very nearly growled, hearing that prick's name, but I held it back, not wanting to scare Bella into not telling me what was going on.

"Yeah?"

"That wasn't the first time I was nearly attacked. It happened once before – in my old foster home. And one of my older foster brothers who I was close to walked in. Um, his name was Jake." I stiffened, hearing that the time with Mike hadn't been her first. God – she'd been through that shit before?

_Well, fuck me. _

"He was about three years older than me and - he was good at fighting. So after that, he started training me how to fight and defend myself. We became close, you know? I viewed him as my protector. Someone who would always be there for me, no matter what." She laughed then. It wasn't the laugh I'd grown accustomed to, though. It was more of a dry laugh which sounded wrong coming from her mouth. It was bitter and that did not suit my girl.

_Shit. I've got to stop thinking of her as my girl until she is my girl. And besides. I doubt she'd take too kindly to be thought of as anyone's girl. _

"Anyway, um – basically. You know, with the whole foster system he was transferred, but we still kept in touch. It wasn't the same with him not living in the next room as me, but...it was alright. But then he started hanging around with this guy – he mentioned him to me at the start – Sam or something like that. And there was this other guy – Embry. I remember him. He had long hair and used to wear it in this ponytail. I met them a couple of times when I went to visit Jake, but fuck – they were big and frightening and honestly, they scared the shit out of me."

It was hard to imagine Bella being scared of people. For as long as I'd known her, she'd never shown fear. Even when Mike had been there, she had just pushed forward, her aim to beat him up.

"Before I knew it, Jake had stopped contacting me and I heard he was in this gang with Sam and Embry. He'd vowed to protect me through my life. And he ditched me. I don't know if you noticed, but – well, I'm not the most trusting person ever. You can blame Jake for that." It was silent for a couple of minutes, whilst I took in Bella's story and gave her some time to herself. It was weird to think that the reason she was so untrusting, so keen to be independent was because some bastard had decided to ditch her.

"So today – he was there then?" My arm tightened a little more around her. My protective nature toward Bella, wanting to shield her from any pain she was remembering.

"Yeah. He was there. It was weird seeing him again. It's been so long. I'd trusted him so much and he threw it in my face, Edward." She turned to me then. Her brown eyes were so big and sad. Muddy puddles showing how hurt she was, her face pleading with me to understand. We sat there, staring at each other. I couldn't move my eyes from hers.

I didn't _want_ to move my eyes from hers.

I noticed Bella's breathing pick up as I held her close to me. Our faces were so close.

So close.

Her chest started rising and falling heavily with her breathing, as we held each other's gaze longer. Neither one of us breaking it.

And then.... Then her eyes dropped down to my lips. And before they could rise again, I leaned forward and kissed her.

* * *

**A/N** It's a short chapter I know, but the chapters from here will be getting relatively shorter. For the next three or four chapter I think the lengths are going to be around this length at most, before increasing again. If the reviews are great though, I'll try to update twice a week with the shorter chapters. Try being the key word. Right now I'm so loaded with work it's insane. Please review.

Nicole


	7. On The Run: Time to Move Bella

**A/N** I have a reason for the lateness of this chapter. It was my birthday on Wednesday so I wasn't home. Then yesterday I was helping out at college and got home in time to do some work and sleep. Anyhow as a birthday treat – every review gets a sneak peek for next chapter.

Thanks to Belinda (Belindella) and Lena for beta-ing.

* * *

**On The Run: Part 1: Escape**

**Chapter 1: Time to Move Bella**

**1st November 2007**

**BPOV**

_Shit. Shit. Shit._

I hastily opened my drawer, grabbing tights, socks, two pairs of jeans and a couple of leggings, stuffing them all together into tight fitting bundles, before throwing them into the open duffel bag on my bed. One bag for me. One bag for Edward. And another bag for supplies. I had two hours to pack our lives into these bags. Racing through the room like I'd gone crazy – mind you, I'm not sure if I hadn't -, I scoured all of our things, listing all the things we'd possibly need in my head. Then my head swivelled around to look at the sachets on my bed.

_Shit. You need to __pack__ the stuff in __better, Bella__. They're not going to fit. _

I started folding then; trying in vain to mould the unrelenting clothes into the sizes I wanted them to be. I needed to get as much of our shit into these bags as possible. I didn't know how long we would have to make ends meet with the stuff I was packing up right now and I wasn't sure Edward knew either – and I hadn't asked. Not that I would have had the chance to, anyway. And even if I'd had, I probably wouldn't have. This was not a situation where one could stand around and chat for a while.

For some reason, my mind started to go all hazy and it felt like everything was turning around. I closed my eyes and sat heavily on the bed, making it bounce. My fingers massaged my temples in an attempt to ease the ache, not succeeding in any way. I should have anticipated that; after all, it wasn't like trying to get some relief had worked for me lately. And still it pissed me off endlessly.

It was driving me insane. My mind kept replaying back to me everything that had happened these last couple of weeks and I just couldn't cope. It hurt. So much. So fucking much. With my head in my hands, I once again could feel the hot flame of desperation flare up in my body, floating my mind, burning up the rest of my internal organs. Times like these always left a bad taste in my mouth and I could feel it creeping up again, making itself at home.

And what the fuck was Edward planning? Fear gripped me, as I thought of him out there, on his own, surrounded by the men who liked to taunt and play games with people's lives. I needed him here. I needed him to help me, to help us get the fuck out of this situation. I felt the control slowly slipping from me and tried to get a better hold onto it. Never before, not once since I'd met Jake, had I lost control. And this was not the right time to start that characteristic up again.

My head started to spin faster, the room I'd grown to love fading into a mesh of dull colours. He didn't know what he was up against. I'd seen it in his eyes, before he'd left. He was going to take action. My Edward was going to take action. But he couldn't. They'd hurt him. They'd kill him.

I could feel my heart start jack hammering at the very thought, my breaths coming in fast pants. I was suffocating. My throat was closing up. Cool sweat had broken out on my forehead.

_Fuck, Bella, now__ is not the time to have a panic attack._

I gasped a few deep, slow, breaths, blowing them out through a small 'o' of my lips, as I tried to focus. I _needed _to focus. I _needed_ to drag myself out. I opened my eyes and tried to concentrate. I had a job. An important one. He'd given me one thing to do and I was in charge. I needed to do it right. I had to finally take control.

I would take control.

I wasn't going to succumb to that piece of shit. I wasn't going to lie down and be fucked over. I wasn't going to be this passive and just let him walk all over me. Over my dead body. I had to swallow hard, as I remembered that _that_ was a possibility that was all too likely to commence. It, however, did not mean that I was giving up. Giving up I'd done enough of lately. And it was time to end it.

Within two weeks – two short weeks -, I'd lost myself. I'd lost my constant need to fight and prove my independence. I'd lost it all, but it wasn't _lost _to me. Just hidden. I'd thought I'd lost it and I'd awoken right in time to discover now that it had been there all along within me. Somewhere... I just had to find out where exactly.

I was going to fucking hunt it down, and if it was the last thing I did. I needed it. I needed it to help me, to get me through. I needed to have that power and independence that Edward hated so much back in me. I needed to find my will that had driven me along all these years to just carry on and survive.

I stood up and carried on folding the clothes. I didn't have enough time to sit and fret about my personal worries. That could be done later. Now – now I needed to focus. I had about an hour and a half to get our shit together and leave. I couldn't afford to waste any time.

I grabbed at what I could, my heart beating in anticipation, as my mind imagined us running away from it all. This time, I managed to ignore the underlying tension, the deep sadness, the fear I carried with me. I wanted it. I wanted to just forget everything that had happened and just be with Edward. Wake up with him, wrapped in his arms, my legs entangled with his. I just wanted to smile freely and have nothing cloud my thoughts. I just wanted what so many others my age had. I wanted normality. I wanted it all.

And by God, was I going to die trying to get it.

This – this was important. I was important. I needed this to go according to his plan. I needed to work at what he told me, and do it fucking right, for Edward to get us out.

I kept the noise down. We didn't make too much noise, Edward and I, on a normal basis so anything out of the ordinary and we'd have the curious Jessica or Lauren knocking on the door.

That would go over well. So fucking well.

I could just imagine Jessica or Lauren opening the door and inquiring as to why I was packing up. They'd run off to the Newtons and we'd be in so much of shit. Not only would there be uproar from Mike and Grace, we'd also have to endure threats of getting thrown out. Not that the last thing would be the biggest of our worries in case we got caught out. In the worst-case scenario, it might just as well cost us our lives. My heart constricted in my chest, as I let the vision of Edward's body, mangled and broken on the floor, take over my mind. For a moment, I could see it. See it as well as I would have if it had been reality. Then I snapped out of it. No. No way in hell would I let that happen. I needed to make sure I was as quiet as possible, so I didn't gain any unwanted attention.

I looked in the duffel bag at the stuff I'd thrown in there hazardously and frowned. What the fuck did we need my flat irons for? It wasn't like I'd have to dress up prim and proper and pull out the frilly dresses and sparkling heels, wherever we were going. Those would have to go. I tore them out of the bag, throwing them onto the bed.

I felt like screaming, as I rifled through the bag and pulled out more useless shit. There were so many things that I desperately wanted to take, but that I didn't need to. So many things we could do without. So many things that were dragging me down and wasting my time.

I tried to think about what people running away normally packed. Of course I'd never actually run away, so I couldn't recall on any past experiences to help me with this. It was a hard thing trying to figure out what to pack. It didn't _seem_ hard, of course – just throwing together a bunch of things and sticking them together in a duffel bag. But it was so much harder than that. So much harder.

I was packing away our lives. I was choosing things for us to take that we would use to start up our new lives. Everything that I picked would have to aid us in some way. I needed to be smart about it. I couldn't afford to mess it up.

Jewellery. We could use that shit for trading. I grabbed my jewellery case. There wasn't really much in it. A few tacky pieces which I immediately discarded - however, over the years I'd been given a few rare treats by some of my favourite foster parents as a goodbye present. I'd feel bad selling them. They were memories of my few happier times at some of the houses. But then again, it wasn't like I was going to ever have anywhere to wear them. Maybe in the future. But for now, for the present, this could help Edward and me.

Money was a necessity. I rushed over to the wardrobes, pulling open his and bending down, my knees scraping against the floor, as I reached into the back of the wardrobe. All of the money that Edward had made from doing those fucking jobs for James was kept in boxes at the back of it. I pulled out one, startled at the weight of it.

_These are going to be a bitch to carry around._

The box I held in my hands was a black, solid metal box which had a lock that needed a combination to open. I sighed, putting it down and reaching back inside the wardrobe pulling out two more boxes, each as heavy as the last one. I carried the boxes over to the bed, placing them carefully inside the duffel bags. If I had known the combinations, I would have opened them, taken the money out and left the boxes behind to spare us the weight, but Edward hadn't told me and I'd not thought to ask. I walked over to our wardrobes again, pulling open mine and dragging of some clothes from the hangers, before walking over to the bed and placing them in the duffel bags.

_What else?_

I opened my drawer, pulling out some underwear and a few toiletries. I did the same for Edward, taking a few boxers of his and his bag of toiletries.

The bags were starting to get full and I still needed to pack some food and drinks to last us till whenever. No one out of the two of us wanted to run the risk of being seen buying anything in a store or a gas station, so there really wasn't much choice left. We had to take as much stuff with us as we could. I ran my fingers through my hair, exasperated, before walking over to the door, pulling it open slightly and peering outside, making sure no one was there. I opened it fully then, walking outside and closing it behind me, locking it. I couldn't afford having someone barge into the room and see the bags.

I crept down the stairs into the kitchen. Grace was out and Mike Senior was asleep in the living room in front of the TV, so at least I didn't have to worry about them. I walked into the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible, not wanting to wake up Mike Senior. I grabbed a plastic bag from the dispenser we had and threw in a few packets of crisps. Someone had made a dish of pasta which was half eaten through already, so I grabbed a container from a cupboard and shovelled some of the pasta inside, securing the lid on before placing it in my plastic bag. No one would notice that there was something off. Even if someone in this household would care enough to think about where the food had gone, they would just think someone of us had taken it and eaten before dinner time. I grabbed four bottles of water and a few bananas and apples. We needed more food, though, and I panicked looking around the kitchen. It wasn't exactly the best stocked kitchen there was. I pulled out another carrier bag from the dispenser, opening a drawer and pulling out the few packets of chips and cookies that were there.

Fear gripped me again, as I thought of how we would die of starvation. Images flashed in my mind at a startling speed, images of us rummaging through dustbins, our skin pale and washed out through exhaustion and deprivation.

We weren't going to be able to get away with this. We couldn't just escape. We couldn't just leave everything behind. We'd have everyone following us; hunting for us. We were two kids trapped in a lifestyle which didn't allow any mistakes. Two kids just so fucking trapped.

We'd have the social services after us. They'd bring us back, kicking and screaming, and would probably split us up, sending us to two different homes. We'd have James and Laurent and that mother-fucking group after us. No one escaped this lifestyle.

Once you were in, you were in for life.

But Edward, he seemed to have found a way for us to escape. And I was scared. Scared that we would fail. Scared that everyone would find us. James. The social services. Our mother-fucking past. But I had told him that I trusted him. That revelation spread a new fear inside of me. I had told him I trusted him. Me – Bella Swan, the person who'd sworn she'd never trust anyone ever again.

It had been so long, since I trusted someone. I didn't trust anymore. Period. I knew why and there was nothing that could contradict that reason. But somehow I trusted Edward and I don't know when it was that the feeling of trust started to creep on me, but it had and somewhere along the line, somewhere in between Edward and me cementing our relationship and being in the shit we were in now, I had learnt to trust again.

It was a nice feeling. Scary. But nice.

Holding the two plastic carrier bags in my hand, I walked up the stairs, pulling out my key to our room and quickly unlocking the door. Once inside the room, I put the bags on the bed and started to zip up the duffel bags. I looked at the clock on our wall and noticed that Edward was going to arrive soon. Not much longer and we'd be out. Not much longer and we'd leave behind everything we'd ever known. Well, at least, what I'd ever known.

I finished zipping up the bags, then sat on the bed besides them. I was tense, my body alert as I waited. Waited for my Edward to come back to me. Just like I trusted he would.


End file.
